Photographer: Ami Vitale

Title: "Young Pandas"

Ami Vitale: "Young Pandas," Sichuan, China, 2015

Young pandas relax in the grass at Dujiangyan Panda Base in Sichuan, China. There are currently fewer than 2,000 giant pandas in the wild. Their breeding secrets have long resisted the efforts of zoos, and the mountainous bamboo forests they call home have been decimated by development and agriculture. Over 30 years, researchers from the China Conservation & Research Center have been working on breeding and releasing pandas, augmenting existing populations and protecting their habitat. And they're finally having success. They are taking captive-born pandas and releasing them back into the wild.

Ami Vitale (American, b. 1971)

Ami Vitale is a National Geographic photographer, writer, speaker, and documentary filmmaker. She has traveled to more than 100 countries, lived in mud huts and war zones, contracted malaria, and donned a panda suit to get closer to her subjects. Her award-winning work illuminates the unsung heroes working to protect wildlife. Vitale has been named one of the most influential conservation photographers of her generation. InStyle magazine named her one of 50 "Badass Women" alongside Jane Goodall, Christiane Amanpour and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She has received several prestigious awards, including six World Press Photo awards, the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding Journalism, and the International Photographer of the Year award. Her bestselling book, "Panda Love," depicts the secret lives of pandas. Vitale is the founder and executive director of the nonprofit Vital Impacts, which empowers youth to become climate activists. She lectures for the National Geographic LIVE series and is featured on the 2023 "National Geographic Explorer" television series.

Signed by photographer

Image size: 25 x 17 inches (landscape)

Approx. framed size: 33 x 25.5 inches