On the 24th, reporters learned from the Shaanxi Foping National Nature Reserve that patrol guards from the Sanguan Temple Protection Station recently had two encounters with giant pandas in one day during their patrol duties.
After breakfast, patrol guards Li Baode and He Yidong left the protection station and passed through the Huodiba area on their way to patrol Lijia Gou. The patrol path around Huodiba is slightly straight with a gentle slope and wide views, making it a high-probability area for encountering giant pandas.
The two patrol guards came across a wild giant panda with shiny fur and a well-fed, strong body. This panda wasn’t just focused on eating, nor did it immediately run off into the bamboo forest. Instead, it walked over to a promotional sign set up by the Reserve Management Bureau and began “playing” with the sign.
“This is a ‘big fat cat,’ much larger and more robust than any wild giant panda we’ve seen in recent years,” Li Baode said. The panda was unbothered, playfully holding onto the signpost, showing agility and great strength. While walking along the patrol path, it kept glancing around, remaining very alert.
After completing the patrol of Lijia Gou, the two patrol guards encountered another wild giant panda on their way back to the protection station. This was an elderly panda, thinner and weaker, with an incomplete lower left canine tooth. It was eating bamboo in the forest along the patrol path.
The Shaanxi Foping National Nature Reserve is the first wildlife protection area in the Qinling Mountains. According to the four national giant panda surveys conducted to date, this reserve has been confirmed as the area with the highest population density of wild giant pandas and the highest encounter rate in the country. In both the core and buffer zones, there is, on average, one giant panda per 1.5 square kilometers, with the wild panda population steadily increasing.
Giant pandas are solitary animals, often referred to as “bamboo hermits,” only briefly gathering in spring during the breeding season. The fact that patrol guards encountered two giant pandas in one day indicates that wild pandas are beginning to gather, signaling the approach of the annual “breeding season” for these bamboo forest hermits.