Wild panda family spotted in Southwest China

CHENGDU - A wild panda mother and her cub were captured by an infrared camera in a nature reserve in Southwest China's Sichuan province, the reserve said Wednesday.

The video shot on June 6 showed two pandas wandering beside a puddle in the Fengtongzhai Panda Nature Reserve in Baoxing county. The cub was also seen lying down to have a drink.

"It is rare to have such clear footage of a panda family in the wild," said Li Rengui with the reserve. "Both pandas are very healthy, and the baby panda should be around one year old."

More than 140 infrared cameras installed in the reserve have captured seven pieces of footage of wild pandas in 2019. This was the first time however for a mother panda with her baby to be filmed.

Baoxing county is known as the hometown of giant pandas. It is in Baoxing where the French Catholic priest, zoologist and botanist Armand David discovered the giant panda -- a species totally new to science in 1869.

A total of 181 wild giant pandas currently live in the county, with 37 in the reserve.