Picture of the world's first all white panda: Photo: Courtesy of information office of the Sichuan government

The nature reserve in Southwest China's Sichuan Province has released pictures of an all-white-furred panda on Saturday.  

Different from its black-and-white peers, the all-white panda has red eyes. 

Animal experts said it might be a mutation aged one to two years old, the Wolong National Nature Reserve, which took the photo of the unique panda in mid-April, told the media. The gender of the panda remains unknown. 

It was captured by an infrared camera located 2,000-meters above sea level in the area, the reserve said.

It is the first case of wild pandas which go completely albefactist, said Li Sheng, an expert from the School of Life Sciences at Peking University. He said this shows albefaction genes exist in giant pandas.

Li noted that pictures show the panda is strong and walks steadily, an indication that the gene mutation did not affect the panda's health. 

Duan Zhaogang, head of the Wolong reserve, told media that they will increase the number of infrared cameras in the reserve to carefully monitor the panda's life and activities.

Global Times