A playful giant panda - less than two years old - has been captured on camera climbing a tree and then resting on one of its branches at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP) in southwest China's Sichuan Province.
In the video, the panda Xin Qiao climbed up the wooden frame and onto the tree. Then it crawled from the base of the tree to the branches and sat down to rest.
Xin Qiao was born in August 2024 at the Shenshuping base of the Wolong National Nature Reserve to mother Mei Mei.
The CCRCGP has built the world's largest captive population of pandas and pioneered rewilding research through captive breeding and training. It also runs a global cooperation platform that links 18 zoos in 16 countries and regions with 39 domestic breeding institutions and more than 10 research institutes.
Giant panda cub climbing, resting on tree
The number of suspected Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has surpassed 1,000 as the latest outbreak continues to spread across eastern provinces, according to a situation report released Wednesday by the country's Ministry of Health.
The report, based on figures compiled as of Tuesday, put the cumulative number of suspected cases at 1,077. The country has recorded 121 confirmed Ebola cases and 238 suspected deaths since the outbreak was declared on May 15.
The outbreak has affected 13 health zones across the eastern provinces of Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu, the report said, with Ituri remaining the epicenter.
The current outbreak marks the country's 17th Ebola epidemic. Laboratory tests identified the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, a relatively rare form of Ebola.
Uganda on Wednesday ordered the immediate closure of its border with the DRC. In a statement, the Ugandan Ministry of Health said the decision was taken by the National Task Force on Ebola Response amid growing concerns over cross-border movements between the two countries, which authorities said posed a heightened risk of the virus spreading into Uganda. The move follows reports that some Congolese patients crossed into Uganda before the Ebola outbreak was officially declared in the DRC on May 15, exposing Ugandan health workers to the virus.
The ministry said only authorized Ebola response teams, humanitarian operations, food and cargo transportation and essential security personnel will be allowed to move between the two countries.
Uganda's immigration authority was directed to enforce the restrictions and permit entry only to approved personnel operating under strict health protocols.
Uganda has reported seven confirmed Ebola cases. Its health ministry said that the number of contacts of the confirmed cases has increased, many of whom are medical workers.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern" on May 17, while the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention later declared a continental public health security emergency.
Suspected Ebola cases in DR Congo top 1,000: report
