Revealing a rare look at China’s elusive giant panda

To capture an image of China’s famous black-and-white bear, an inventive photographer first had to find one.

Photography · How I Got the Shot · By Rob G. Green, Gordy Megroz · Published July 29, 2026 · 1 min read · August 2026 Issue

Topics: Endangered Species, Giant Panda, Wildlife Photography, Camera Traps, Wildlife, Embedded Video, Short, How I Got the Shot, Photography

In China, images of giant pandas are everywhere: on road signs, backpacks, key chains, storefronts, teacups. But seeing one in the wild is notoriously difficult—even in Giant Panda National Park. Last fall, I spent three weeks in the preserve, located in central China, with two forest rangers and three fellow photographers and National Geographic Explorers. Our goal was to set up two camera traps to document any of the 30 uncollared and untagged bears believed to live in the 125-square-mile Wanglang section of the park, a mountainous area with dense bamboo and old-growth conifer forests. Perfect for bears that crave solitude. Each day, we inspected bite marks on bamboo, panda droppings, and paw prints. Following those clues, I placed one camera trap facing a narrow gap between two trees, seemingly the only path a passing panda could take. Three months later, at 2:30 a.m., the phone rang. It was Xiaodong Sun, one of my partners in China. He told me to open my email, and—boom!—there it was: a young panda staring me in the face. A version of this story appears in the August 2026 issue of National Geographic magazine.

Videos in this story: Revealing a rare look at an elusive giant panda