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Wild pandas survive solely in six mountain ranges within Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. Fu and the other station members patrol Daxiangling, which boasts the Daxiangling Giant Panda Wilderness and Reintroduction Research Base, the world's largest giant panda reintroduction training center.

The team's routine is to collect bamboo leaves and soil samples to check for pests and deterioration. They are looking for signs that the leaves are unsuitable for pandas to eat and that the soil is not ideal for growing bamboo.

They also monitor recordings from the infrared cameras installed in the mountains, gather information about giant pandas and collect panda droppings.

Scientists use the droppings to identify the sex of the pandas, which is how they determine the number of males and females in an area and if a captive male or female panda needs to be released to expand the population, Fu said.