Research team contributes to giant panda preservation

Despite the harsh conditions when doing field investigations in Wolong National Nature Reserve in Southwest China's Sichuan province, Shi Xiaogang had no hesitation in becoming a research team member there for the preservation of pandas and other endangered animals.

With the help of digital tools, they carried out the sampling and monitoring of giant pandas, made up the animals' DNA files, conducted snow leopard surveys and ecological research for rare species.

Through routine monitoring, they acquired the information of the behavior and habitat changes of giant pandas and their associated animals, observed and recorded their number, activity traces and populations distributed in the area.

They launched an investigation into edible bamboo, analyzed the effect of human interference and published new findings about giant pandas' courtship behavior, new features about their distribution and gender ratio and discovered the world's first white giant panda and the world's first subadult twins in the wild. They collected the images of giant pandas and snow leopards, which have become the vivid photos people can see today.

Some of the pictures were collected when they came across rivers, stepped on cliffs, waded through rocky beaches or climbed over ridges and beams.

Wolong, located at the deepest cut in Hengduan Mountains Canyon, is principally renowned for its significance in the conservation of the giant panda and some other endemic and threatened species including snow leopards.

Shi has been engaged in biodiversity protection work for 29 years and led a team with nearly 100 members. After years of research and record, they have made significant contributions to the ecosystem protection strategy and the giant panda and snow leopard protection plan in the Wolong area.

They spend more than 200 days a year in the wild, facing the difficulties of huge temperature differences and body pains brought by hypoxia in high mountains.

Besides, they are used to insect and snake bites all year round and get ready to encounter various dangerous wild animals every second and some severe weather such as avalanches will also hamper their field work.

The longest journey for field work once lasted 15 days, and the team's capita walk is recorded at more than 500 kilometers a year. They also serve multiple tasks, such as driving away poachers, forest fire prevention and pest control, serving a higher goal of protecting all the ecological resources in the Wolong area.

In 2017, Shi led his team to carry out scientific investigation on 436 square kilometers for the research on snow leopards, the first action for the animal's research in Hengduan Mountains. He then became the first one to initiate the protection of snow leopards in Sichuan province.

"Most of the time, our camouflage clothes can't stay dry. When the weather is good, they are soaked with sweat; when the weather is bad or it rains, the clothes are wet; or it can also get wet in the river," according to Shi.