Pandas v. Horses Fight Goes to Pandas (For Now)

It was a battle fought in the mountains of southwestern China, where patchy forests sustain the last shreds of the wild giant panda population. All at once, intruders began marching in and helping themselves to the pandas' food. The incursion happened far from most human eyes, and the pandas that witnessed it likely didn't know what to think. It's not often that one sees a horse in a bamboo forest. In these woods, the Wolong National Nature Reserve is an important refuge for pandas. About a tenth of the entire wild panda population lives there—although that amounts to only 150 or so animals. They share the space with around 5,000 humans, most of whom are farmers who graze their livestock in designated areas. A new trend emerged among these farmers in the 2000s as they began to do more business with an adjacent township where horses are reared. Though the ...