MINDEN PICTURES – Brown and White Pandas

Katherine Feng brings us a new selection of panda images from China including shots of an extremely rare brown-and-white panda named Qi Zai who was rescued from the wild in the Qinling Mountains of Shaanxi Province. The giant pandas of the Qinling Mountains are considered to be a subspecies of giant pandas. While most of the pandas (including those of the Qinling Mountains) are black-and-white, Qi Zai is unique and rare because of his brown-and-white color variation.

Though the exact cause of this color variation is not known, it is suspected that it has a genetic basis as a few others have occurred in the past. All recorded brown and white pandas have been from the Qinling Mountains which has a giant panda population of about 300 individuals. This panda subspecies is rare and quality photos of them are even rarer! Check out this gallery which also includes new photos of panda babies including newborns of the black-and-white variety.