By Joshua Carroll
YANGON, Myanmar
A pair of rare red pandas has been caught on film in the wilds of Myanmar for the first time, local media reported Tuesday.
The endangered animals were spotted by conservationists in the remote Imawbum mountain range in northern Kachin state.
The blurry, fifty-second clip released by Fauna & Flora International shows the raccoon-like animals scrambling over rocks left by a landslide caused by a Chinese logging company. As they reach the top of the slope, the lead panda turns briefly to make sure the other is following before they both disappear into the undergrowth.
The pandas were on their way to a “ruined forest to feed on bamboo leaves,” the conservation group said.
Flora and Fauna International said the Imawbum range is “a hot spot for red pandas… unlike in other parts of the Burmese Himalaya, where the species is very rare.”
There are fewer than 10,000 wild red pandas left in the world, according to estimates, and their numbers are dwindling due to deforestation and demand for their highly-prized fur.
The animal, which inhabits Himalayan forests stretching from India to China, is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
The notoriously shy creatures, widely adored for their bushy, red-brown coats and stubby legs, have been especially hard to capture on film in Myanmar.
Civil conflict in Myanmar’s mountainous region and a military regime that was deeply suspicious of outsiders have hampered the efforts of researchers and conservationists for decades.
Myanmar began sweeping democratic reforms after the ruling junta stepped aside in 2011, raising hopes that scientists would finally be given unfettered access to study the vast array of plants and animals in its pristine jungles and rivers.
But there are fears the reforms, including repairing the economy and courting foreign investment, could threaten Myanmar’s ecosystem, which, despite logging and poaching, remains one of the world’s most untouched.
“When we encountered the two red pandas, we felt two emotions at the same time - incredibly happy for the direct sighting and for obtaining this first exciting footage but terribly saddened seeing the state of their habitat and threats to the species’ survival,” Saw Soe Aung, the field biologist who shot the footage, said.
The red panda was first sighted in Myanmar in 2009, and Flora and Fauna International began a conservation program to protect the animal from hunting and deforestation in 2012.
The first footage of the red panda captured by Fauna & Flora International in the wild in Myanmar.
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