Sex lives of wild pandas revealed

Love is in the air for Sichuan’s wild pandas, and experts have been watching – in the dark.

Infrared video taken from cameras in Wolong National Nature Reserve have revealed pandas gearing up for mating season, which usually falls between April and May.

The three cameras on April 26 picked up video of a panda sniffing a tree, rubbing its hindquarters against the trunk before urinating on it.

The video did not reveal the panda’s gender, but experts described the behavior as classic mating signs. “Pandas usually scratch and rub against trees then urinate to leave their scent on bark to mark their territory,” said Shi Xianggang, head of the Mujiangping Wildlife Protection Station.

The nature reserve cameras have only recorded pandas exhibiting such behavior a total six times in the last six months.

If anything, the video surely has experts very excited. Pandas have notoriously low libidos and often have to be urged into the reproductive act.

A female panda will go into estrus for only two or three days every year, experts said.