A camera trap placed in southwest China may have captured a rare picture of the world’s first known albino giant panda. The trap was set up by researchers at the Wolong National Nature Reserve in China. The motion-activated camera trigged when the panda crossed its path, possibly giving us our first look yet at this rare species.
A press release mentions that this all-white giant panda was photographed as it was roaming through a bamboo forest which lies at an altitude of 2,000 meters. The Wolong National Nature Reserve, where this picture of the giant panda was taken, is in Sichuan, a southwest province of China.
Experts for the Peking University School of Life Sciences and the International Union for Conservation of Nature have confirmed that the animal in this photo is an albino individual. The defining marks of albinism include the pinkish-red eyes with the white fur and claws. The panda’s sex isn’t known but judging by the picture it may be between one to two years old.
Conservationists at the reserve point out that if this panda is able to grow to maturity and mate with another albino that has the same mutated gene, it would contribute to further propagation of the albino gene, even if it doesn’t directly result in the birth of another albino giant panda.
Filed in ..