A WILD panda has died of its wounded after being savaged by a gaggle of yellow-throated martens.
The three-year-old bear, named Pingping by medics, was badly injured in an attack by martens.
He was spotted by rangers on a nature reserve in Qingchuan county in China's south-western Sichuan province.
They found him hiding terrified during a cave, nursing his wounds.
Pingping's abdomen was severely injured, exposing his intestines, which became infected.
He was taken to the nearby city of Chengdu, where he underwent a transfusion and variety of other hours of surgery.
But although the young panda initially appeared stable, he didn't recover from the intensive surgery.
Doctors said that although the marten attack had left him with serious injuries, this actually only played alittle part in his death.
Pingping was found to possess liver damage and be suffering from malnutrition, making it difficult for him to recover.
Giant panda expert Qiang Lu, 39, said: "The wild panda had been badly injured. Its stomach had been ripped open exposing its bowels.
"We suspect that its attackers may have realised that that they had hurt it badly, and unable to easily attack it any more within the cave, had retreated to attend for it to die."
Yellow-thoated martens wouldn't normally challenge an animal as big because the panda but the group appears to possess been large enough to warrant an attempt .
The brightly coloured and unsightly smelling marten usually targets small deer and shows little fear of humans or dogs.
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