Fecal samples suggest presence of new panda

Forest rangers recently discovered fresh panda droppings in the Shifang section of the Giant Panda National Park in Sichuan province, indicating the possible presence of a subadult wild giant panda in the area.

Yang Kai, deputy director of the Shifang management station in the national park, said a ranger found the panda droppings at around 7 pm last Friday during a routine patrol.

The following day, the Deyang management bureau in the national park sent a special monitoring team to conduct an on-site investigation and track the wild panda's movements, he said.

Investigators determined the droppings were in a forest with lush vegetation and gentle terrain at an altitude of 1,900 meters. Fresh bamboo fragments and leaves in the droppings suggested they were excreted two to three days earlier, the team said.

Team member Zeng Xiangbo, a specialist with more than a decade of field experience, said preliminary analysis of the droppings' size and quantity suggests they likely came from a subadult giant panda, though a DNA test is required for confirmation.

"The area where the droppings were found consists of half man-made forest and half natural bamboo groves — an ideal habitat for giant pandas," he said.

Zeng said that after collecting the fecal samples, they searched the surrounding area within a 2-kilometer radius for a full day but found no signs of the panda's foraging activity.

To capture images of the panda, the team has installed three infrared cameras along potential routes, he added.

Yang said DNA analysis of panda droppings can determine the animal's gender and age group, with the test results expected in about 20 days.

"Every wild panda discovered undergoes a DNA test and receives an individual profile," he said.

"If no matching DNA records exist in the database, it means the panda is newly identified."

The national park's Shifang section, covering about 210 square kilometers, is a traditional habitat for an isolated panda group in Jiuding Mountain. A specific survey in 2023 showed this area is home to between one and three wild pandas, Yang said.

The last discovery of wild panda feces in the section was in 2023, confirming the presence of an unrecorded female subadult giant panda, he said.

Yang said the new discovery is the third time that wild panda activity has been seen in Shifang since the official establishment of the Giant Panda National Park in 2021.

It also demonstrates the effectiveness of the national park's ecological restoration and panda population recovery, he added.

Zeng said the Shifang section has seen a rapid increase in wild animal populations in recent years, with rare species including golden snub-nosed monkeys and takins frequently captured by infrared cameras installed in the wild.

"Several species absent from the region for years, including the Chinese serow, have reappeared," he said.

As of the end of last year, China had established 67 panda nature reserves and the Giant Panda National Park, covering a combined area of 2.58 million hectares. The population of wild pandas in China has increased to about 1,900, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.