Bamboozled! Wild panda ‘tries to eat’ a hidden camera after discovering the device in a forest

• The surveillance camera was installed in nature reserve in western China 
• It captured how the wild panda approached it looking completely puzzled 
• The furry animal then started to lick the lens as if it had been a bamboo shoot
• The latest census figure shows that there are 1,864 wild pandas in the world 

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Animals have different reactions when they spot a hidden camera, and this adorable panda was so confused it tried to eat the device. 

The surveillance camera, installed in a forest in western China, captured how the wild panda approached it, looking completely puzzled.

The furry animal then started to lick the lens as if it had been a delicious bamboo shoot.

The wild panda looks into the hidden camera after discovering the device in a forest in China

The furry animal looks completely puzzled after spotting the scientific equipment in the wild

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The footage was filmed last Thursday in the Dafengding Nature Reserve in Mabian, Sichuan Province.

Scientists had installed the infrared camera in hope of tracking the activities of wild pandas in the mountains.   

The bewildered, camera-eating panda had been feasting on bamboo before coming across the equipment, local officials told Xinhua News Agency. And apparently, it was still hungry.

The camera also caught the naughty panda playing in the snow after nightfall.

The hidden cameras in the park have recorded a total of 148 sightings of wild pandas since they were set up in 2011, according to officials.

There are approximately 1,864 wild pandas in the world. Pictured are panda twins ‘Harmony’ and ‘Beautiful’, the world’s first set of twin pandas born to a captive mother and a wild father

The latest census in 2014 found that there were 1,864 wild pandas in the world, according to World Wildlife.

They mainly live in bamboo forests high in the mountains of south-west China’s Sichuan province, therefore they are used to cool weather.

They can also be found in the Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi province.

In March last year, a hidden camera at a nature reserve in Shaanxi Province spotted a wild panda with brown-and-white fur for the very first time.

The animal appeared to be a healthy adult giant panda, according to the Changqing National Nature Reserve.

Prior to the discovery, it was believed that there was only one living ‘brown panda’ in the world. The unique animal, named Qizai, also lives in Shaanxi in north-west China. 

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT GIANT PANDAS?

While its numbers are slowly increasing, the giant panda remains one of the rarest and most endangered bears in the world.

There are an estimated 1,800 giant pandas living in the wild currently and 300 in zoos and breeding centres around the world.

Experts are unclear what age giant pandas can reach in the wild, but the oldest panda reared in captivity so far is 38 years old.

A wild panda’s diet is 99 per cent bamboo, with the remaining one per cent made up of small rodents.

Four-month-old baby giant panda Xiang Xiang is pictured getting a physical examination at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo on October 10, 2017

Giant Pandas need to consume around 20 to 40 pounds (10 to 20 kg) of bamboo each day to get the nutrients they need. 

Giant Pandas stand at around three to four feet tall when standing on all four legs.

Cubs do not open their eyes until they are six to eight weeks of age and are not able to move independently until three months old.

A newborn panda is about the size of a stick of butter, or about 1/900th the size of its mother. 

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