Country for PR: China
Contributor: Xinhua News Agency
Tuesday, March 07 2023 - 19:22
AsiaNet
Tangjiahe National Nature Reserve: Random Encounter of Wild Giant Pandas "Courting" from Treetop
GUANGYUAN, China, March 7, 2023 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/--

On March 3rd, staff in the Tangjiahe zone of Giant Panda National 
Park witnessed a precious moment of a pair of giant pandas "dating" from 
treetop.

The Tangjiahe zone of the Giant Panda National Park is located within Qingchuan 
County of Guangyuan City of Sichuan Province. According to the personnel who 
saw and photographed this moment, at the time a giant panda was leisurely 
sunbathing on a branch, while another giant panda slowly climbed up the tree, 
then began to claw its own buttock as it approached the sunbathing panda, and 
subsequently rubbed itself against the tree trunk to shake the tree and attract 
the other panda's attention.

Experts explain that the giant panda was using its circumanal glands to leave 
its scent. The giant panda on the left on the tree is a male, while the one on 
the right is a female, and the behavior described above is closely related to 
the giant panda's mating season.

People have been able to capture pictures of giant pandas at the Motianling 
area in the Tangjiahe zone of the Giant Panda National Park for eight straight 
years. Among these records are the process of wild giant pandas searching for 
mates, or moments when they experienced rut or when they fight. This increasing 
number of videos and photos provides crucial information conducive to studying 
the reproductive behaviors of giant pandas in the world, and further cements 
the Tangjiahe area of Guangyuan City of Sichuan Province as an important 
habitat of the giant panda.

A member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) since 
2014 and a part of the first group of IUCN Green List of Protected and 
Conserved Areas, Tangjiahe boasts the highest probability of encountering a 
rare and endangered animal in low altitude area worldwide. Tangjiahe is noted 
for its big elevation difference and diverse climate, which are reasons why the 
area is home to a wide range of animals and plants, including wild animals like 
giant panda, takin and Temminck's tragopan. Infrared cameras deployed within 
the Tangjiahe National Nature Reserve have recorded many proofs of Tangjiahe's 
biodiversity, for instance, the 1,286 effective data collected by 
one infrared camera between March 29th and September 1st, 2021, which showed 17 
species of wild animals.

Source: The Tangjiahe zone of Giant Panda National Park

Image Attachments Links:

   Link: https://iop.asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=438656

   Caption: A moment of courtship captured on camera

Attachments
Wild Giant Pandas.jpg
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