Rare Panda Discovered In China
The giant panda’s black and white color markings are what make the panda distinct from other animals, especially other bears in the animal kingdom. According to a study done by the University of California and the California State University, Long Beach, the reason why pandas are black and white is the colors serve two functions: camouflage and communication.
The white markings help the panda hide in the snow while the black markings help with hiding in the shade. The black-and-white facial markings, however, help with communicating with other pandas.
As popular and unique as giant pandas are, they are now only really found in one geographic area – elevated mountain ranges of southern-central China.
Most people know the panda for being black-and-white, but for the first time ever, an albino panda has appeared in a natural reserve in China, and it is the first of its kind to be spotted and documented. The all-white panda bear was photographed with an infrared camera at the Wolong National Nature Reserve in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
Photo Credit: Handout Wolong National Nature Reserve/AFP
The panda’s all-white appearance is caused by albinism, and though there are eight species of bears including the giant panda, albinism is a rare occurrence. Brown-and-white pandas have been sighted in Qinling, a mountainous region in the northwestern Chinese province of Shaanxi, before.
Duan Zhaogang, the Communist Party secretary of the Wolong district, said in the statement that the reserve would be keeping tabs on the albino bear by increasing its use of infrared cameras to track the growth and movements of the bear.
By: Maytinee Kramer
