Stranded panda lured to safety with bananas 

A hungry, lost wild giant panda prompted a long rescue operation in a village in southwest China after it trapped itself on a mountain cliff.

Villagers in China's Sichuan province discovered the panda stranded on the steep mountain face, too scared to climb down.

The Washington Post reports that villagers did not dare attempt to rescue the animal themselves but rather called animal conservationists and fed the panda bananas while they waited for help.

The panda, thought to be around three to four years old, was lured from behind a tree with more bananas and managed to scramble off the mountain.

Pandas are a national treasure in China and severely endangered with only around 1,600 in the wild.

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