A rare footage of the world’s only known albino panda has emerged, making it the third time it has been seen since it was born six years ago.

The all-white bear was filmed by a motion-activated camera crossing through a vast nature reserve in the mountains of China’s Sichuan province.

It’s only the third recorded sighting of the animal, which was photographed as a cub in May 2019 and filmed in 2020 by similar devices in the area.

 

The new footage, which shows the albino panda interacting with typical pandas, appears to confirm for the first time that other bears don’t mind its unusual appearance.

 

Li Sheng, a researcher from Peking University, told China’s state broadcaster CCTV: ‘So far we can tell that the white panda is doing very well in its species group and in the natural environment.

‘It is still unclear whether its gene will be inherited and steadily passed on in the small panda population, and more follow-up research is needed.’

As well as missing its species’ characteristic black splotches, the albino panda also has distinctive red eyes.

 

There are currently fewer than 1,900 pandas in the wild, with most living in southwestern China.

 

The species was reclassified from endangered to vulnerable by the World Wildlife Fund.