FILE: Shaanxi Province, northwest China - 2023 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of surveillance camera showing wild giant pandas going out at nighttime
2. Various of surveillance camera showing wild giant pandas walking in river, climbing on trees
3. Surveillance camera showing giant panda looking for bamboo shoots
4. Surveillance camera showing giant panda eating bamboo
5. Local resident encountering wild giant panda on mountain road
6. Various of wild giant panda in wooded area

Xian City, Shaanxi Province, northwest China - July 7, 2023 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
7. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Chen Dong, researcher, Qinling Giant Panda Research Center (partially overlaid with shot 8):
"In some residential areas and along roadsides within the habitat, bamboo is relatively scarce, or even nonexistent. In these areas, we need to replant appropriately to provide sufficient food resources for the giant pandas and facilitate their dispersal and migration. Of course, in some areas, the bamboo is too dense, so we need to thin it out appropriately to facilitate the movement of giant pandas. By implementing these measures, we not only contribute to expanding the habitat of giant pandas and improving its quality, but also effectively protect other rare and endangered species in the Qinling Mountains and maintain the biodiversity conservation of the area."
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
FILE: Shaanxi Province, northwest China - Date Unknown(CCTV - No access Chinese mainland
8. Various of wild giant pandas
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
9. Aerial shots of Qinling Giant Panda Research Center
10. Aerial shot of giant panda bathing
11. Various of giant panda cubs drinking milk, playing
12. Keepers checking cubs
13. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Zhang Jiale, giant panda keeper, Qinling Giant Panda Research Center (ending with shot 14):
"We will check their mouths and noses and also assess their mood during feeding time. We also need to check if they have any injuries."
14. Zhang giving milk to cubs

FILE: Xian City, Shaanxi Province, northwest China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
15. Various of giant pandas at Qinling Giant Panda Research Center
16. Giant panda eating cake
17. Various of giant pandas at Qinling Giant Panda Research Center

Xian City, Shaanxi Province, northwest China - July 7, 2023(CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
18. Various of brown giant panda Qi Zai playing, eating, drinking

The wild population of the rare Qinling giant panda sub-species has more than tripled over the last four decades to hit a birthrate peak last year, thanks to efforts made by researchers to distribute food supplies -- including their beloved bamboo -- more evenly across their natural habitat.

The Qinling subspecies was first recognized in 2005, with these pandas having a smaller and rounder skull, shorter snout and less fur than the more familiar Sichuan subspecies which are predominant in southwest of the country.

The Qinling pandas are indigenous to the expansive Qinling Mountains, located mainly in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, which covers an area of more than 50,000 square kilometers and houses a huge variety of plants and wild animals.

In recent years, greater efforts have been made to improve the giant pandas' habitat around the Qinling Mountains, with researchers working to adjust vegetation types so that they can find sufficient food and move around more freely and easily.

Dr. Chen Dong of the Qinling Giant Panda Research Center in Shaanxi Province explained some of the measures which have been taken, including steps to boost bamboo across a wider area.

"In some residential areas and along roadsides within the habitat, bamboo is relatively scarce, or even nonexistent. In these areas, we need to replant appropriately to provide sufficient food resources for the giant pandas and facilitate their dispersal and migration. Of course, in some areas, the bamboo is too dense, so we need to thin it out appropriately to facilitate the movement of giant pandas. By implementing these measures, we not only contribute to expanding the habitat of giant pandas and improving its quality, but also effectively protect other rare and endangered species in the Qinling Mountains and maintain the biodiversity conservation of the area," said Chen.

Located at the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains, the Qinling Giant Panda Research Center is the third largest panda breeding and research center in China following the Wolong and Chengdu centers in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The birthrate of artificially-bred pandas at the research center peaked in 2022 with 42 cubs being born, including six which were bred through artificial insemination, including two sets of twins, which all contributed to the center's highest tally since its founding in 2003.

Keepers are now taking extra care to tend to the young cubs and allow the panda population to continue to prosper.

"We will check their mouths and noses and also assess their mood during feeding time. We also need to check if they have any injuries," said Zhang Jiale, a giant panda keeper at the research center.

The research center also has its very own superstar, a brown giant panda called Qi Zai, who is the world's only captive brown and white panda.

Qi Zai, literally meaning the seventh cub, was found abandoned by its mother in a nature reserve in the province on Nov. 1, 2009 and has been kept and raised at the center.

The world's first brown panda was discovered in 1985 in the Qinling Mountains. All recorded photographs of wild brown pandas were taken in the area.

According to panda experts, brown pandas could be the result of genetic mutations or atavism, while further study is needed into the rare group.