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This adorable bear is Qizai, seven years old and already world-famous as he’s thought to be the only living panda in the world with an extremely rare white and brown coloring.
Currently living in the Foping Panda Valley in Shaanxi province, China, Qizai was found as a two-month-old cub, abandoned by his mother in the Qinling Mountains.
He Xin, Qizai’s 26-year-old keeper, spends around 18 hours a day caring for the bear and has opened up for the first time about this rare animal’s quirky personality.
He says Qizai is “slower than other pandas, but he is also cuter,” and describes him as “gentle, funny, and adorable”.
“All the pandas here have names. When I call out their names, the other black-and-white pandas would react and come to me quickly, but for Qizai, it usually takes some time to realize that.”
“He eats more slowly, too,” adds He Xin.
Since adulthood, Qizai has been raised in a separate enclosure as he was bullied by the other, larger, black-and-white pandas, who would steal his food.
But now Qizai weighs 220lbs and gets through 44lbs of bamboo every day, as well as milk and Chinese flour buns, in his 4-5 daily meals.
Katherine Feng, an American vet, photographer, and conservationist, shot these photos of Qizai in 2015.
“Brown and white pandas have only been seen in the Qinling Mountains,” she says, “It is suspected that the brown and white coloring of pandas has a genetic basis … Qizai’s mother was black and white.”
There have only been five sightings of brown and white pandas since 1985, but keepers are planning to find a mate for Qizai to learn more about his unusual genetics.
Even if this big cuddly bear is a little on the slow side, could he be any cuter?!
Sadly, there are not just over 1,800 pandas left in the wild. To find out more about this gorgeous species, head to the WWF website.
