An albino giant panda was filmed for the first time, as it walked through the Chinese forest.
An extraordinary discovery was made in the Wolong National Nature Reserve, in the Chinese province of Sichuan: a rare specimen of completely albino giant panda it was filmed by some cameras in the bamboo forests of southwestern China. The first ever seen in nature.
This was announced by the administration of the nature reserve, which says that the panda was filmed in mid-April by an infrared camera at an altitude of 2 meters.
The panda, filmed while walking through the forest, had red eyes and no spots on the body.
“Judging by the images, the panda is albino, aged between one and two years,” explains Li Sheng, a researcher at Peking University and a bear specialist who has studied the images. According to Li, the animal is a rare all-white wild panda, demonstrating that the albinism gene exists in Wolong's wild population of giant pandas.
"The panda appears to be strong and its footsteps are steady, a sign that the genetic mutation may not have completely hindered its life," Li said.
The nature reserve plans to install more infrared cameras to observe its growth and how it interacts with other giant pandas in the area.
Animals with albinism - which are characterized by a lack of melanin or skin pigment - are often at greater risk from predators in the wild as they can be more easily spotted and have poorer eyesight.
The giant panda is classified as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. According to the World Wife Fund for Nature, there are 1.864 specimens left in the wild.
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Germana Carillo
