Black bears have recently been spotted at the Jiangshan Xianxialing Provincial Nature Reserve in Jiangshan, Quzhou, East China's Zhejiang province.

Liu Zhikun, head of the Shenkengkou Management Station in Jiangshan Xianxialing Nature Reserve, discovered three clear videos of the bear family while reviewing footage from infrared cameras. The videos show the bears foraging at night and the playful cubs frolicking in the bamboo forest.

This marks the second sighting of black bears in Zhejiang in 2025. On social media, videos of black bears captured in Quzhou's Kaihua county and Changshan county have resurfaced.

A black bear is captured on camera in Kaihua county, Quzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo/Tide News]

The black bears in Zhejiang are Asiatic black bears, classified as an endangered species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species.

Historically, Zhejiang was a haven for black bears, with records of their distribution in 31 counties. However, they disappeared from the region from the 1990s to 2011.

In 2011, a black bear was captured by infrared camera in Kaihua county in Quzhou. Sightings of black bears in Zhejiang have expanded from two locations in 2011 to 17 in 2024.

Now, their range spans nearly 3,000 square kilometers of mountainous terrain in western Zhejiang, highlighting broader biodiversity improvements in the region.