Rare brown giant panda spotted in NW China

XI'AN -- A wild brown giant panda has been caught on camera in the Qinling Mountains in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, the 11th time this extremely rare panda subspecies has been spotted in the area.

According to the Shaanxi provincial forestry bureau, the brown panda was captured on Jan 17 by an infrared camera set up at an altitude of about 1,500 meters in Changqing National Nature Reserve.

The last time a brown panda was captured on camera in the Qinling Mountains was in 2018.

The brown panda was an unknown species until the first one was spotted in 1985 in China's Qinling Mountains. All recorded photographs of wild brown pandas have been taken in this area.