Cameras capture panda urinating while doing handstand

A nature reserve in northwest China's Gansu Province has captured its first film footage of some striking courtship behavior by a male panda -- urinating while doing a handstand.

In the clip shown to media on Sunday, the giant panda pushes his left hind leg up against a tree and starts to urinate on the bark in a half upside-down position. He then gets down, walks to another tree some 10 meters away, smells it for a moment and repeats the action.

The video was taken on January 15 at the Baishuijiang National Nature Reserve using infrared cameras. This technology, installed about three years ago, has been helping the reserve record valuable evidence of behavior among the reclusive inhabitants of the forest.

Reserve staff explained that urinating in a handstand position is a common courtship act by giant pandas. The urine contains pheromones and the scent can spread further, attracting more potential partners, if the urine is higher up a tree.

At the same time, pandas also use their urine to mark territory and warn members of the same sex to stay away, increasing their chances of mating.

Covering over 200,000 hectares, the Baishuijiang reserve is one of China's largest habitats for wild pandas. Census data shows that there are 132 pandas in the province, 110 of them in Baishuijiang.

Yuan Fengxiao, head of the reserve's management bureau, said the infrared cameras have also captured footage of rare species including takins, golden monkeys, forest musk deer, Chinese monals and golden cats.