Mystery of the giant brown panda deepens

Rare sighting of brown-and-white panda sparks conservation debate.

Henry Nicholls

This rare panda cub with brown-and-white fur could carry genetic clues about the species' inbreeding.Qihui Liang

Pandas are increasingly endangered in the wild, and the sighting of one with extremely rare brown-and-white fur is now raising fears that the species may be suffering from inbreeding.

In November 2009, a staff member at the Foping Nature Reserve in China's Qinling Mountains — one of the panda's last remaining strongholds — spotted a panda with the unusual colouring. It was estimated to weigh around 2 kilograms, which would suggest it was less than 2 months old at the time.

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http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100118/full/news.2010.19.html