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Watch- Webinar Recording of “Beyond Pandas- Discovering China’s Rare Mountain Wildlife”

By · On February 25, 2021
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While I have done many webinars on China’s giant pandas, I have so far just touched on the subject that these iconic animals act as an umbrella species. When humans decide to conserve a charismatic mammal species, such as polar bear, orangutan, grizzly bear or panda, all the other flora and fauna are also conserved in that species intact habitat. In this webinar I discuss in detail what this means in giant panda habitat. China ranks 3rd in the world, after Brazil and Colombia, in biodiversity as 551 mammal species, 1221 species of birds, 424 species of reptiles and 333 species of amphibians can be found there. Pandas reside in among the richest habitats in all of China.

wild takin china, Sichuan golden takin
The takin is one of the most impressive mammals that can be found in Panda habitat. In the nature reserve we visit on our Natural Habitat Expeditions, there are two subspecies of takins- the golden and the Sichuan.

golden pheasant
Two golden pheasant cocks fighting for mating rights in a meadow at dusk. Can a bird be more beautiful? This is possibly the most stunning bird of the 150 species that can be found in Sichuan’s giant panda habitat.

Photo by new NHA expedition leader in training Mike Seitz of a moon bear, or asiatic black bear in a remote nature reserve in the Min Mountains. Moon bear sightings are becoming much more frequent in our most recent expeditions. In total, we have seen over 15 wild individuals, which to their elusive nature, is truly remarkable.

For me, one of each trip’s highlight is exploring remote nature reserves and observing troops of wild golden snub-nosed monkeys!

571 of species of Rhododendron can be found in China,
409 of which are endemic

The bounty of fruit and nut producing trees in panda habitat benefits many very rare species, such as this tibetan macaque feeding on wild persimmons.

As we were driving through the Qionglai Mountains on an expedition in the fall of 2019, we saw the unbelievable- a wild red panda eating mountain ash berries across the river. My group and I were truly speechless…. Red pandas are extremely endangered due to poaching and habitat loss.

The high peaks, which rise to over 20,000 feet in giant panda reserves are valuable refuges for another very endangered, charismatic species- the snow leopard. WWF researchers have captured many images of these elusive big cats on motion sensing game cameras. I captured this image in the Indian Himalayas.

panda cub
Tufted deer.

Due to the irresistible appearance of the giant panda, which has earned massive conservation efforts, one of the most beautiful and diverse ecosystems on earth has been protected.

Here is a webinar I did with my friend and colleague Phillip He on China’s changing views on conservation and how this will effect the rest of the world. We also discuss the giant panda conservation story, and the roots of the environmental disasters in Chinese history.

Thanks for tuning in guys!! Keep exploring, Brad


Brad has been a Natural Habitat Expedition Leader since 2005, guiding Alaska grizzly bear tours, Churchill polar bear tours, northern lights expeditions and China panda tours. His specialty is bear biology and ecology of the north country.

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