GUIYANG, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Fossilized remains of 61 individual giant pandas have been discovered in Shuanghe Cave, Asia's longest cave, in Suiyang County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, making it the site with the largest number of giant panda fossils in the world, according to findings released Wednesday at a press conference on the results of the 25th international cave scientific expedition.

The latest expedition added nine fossilized giant panda individuals to the total, with most specimens unearthed from newly discovered cave passage.

Two sites bearing giant panda claw marks were also discovered, said Wang Deyuan, an associate research fellow at the Guizhou Academy of Sciences' Institute of Mountain Resources.

Wang said the pandas apparently entered the cave, moved more than ten meters inward and then fell into a vertical shaft. They did not die immediately after the fall and left claw marks as they tried to move. Eventually, they fell into a deeper shaft and became trapped, where they ultimately died.

The expedition also uncovered fossils of ancient animals including takin, rhinoceros and stegodon. Among them, fossils of a giant tapir and a clouded leopard were found in Shuanghe Cave for the first time, and the unearthed skeleton of a juvenile giant tapir is one of the most complete such remains preserved in China.

Zhou Wenlong, deputy director of the institute, said that since the late 1980s, 25 international joint scientific expeditions have been carried out at Shuanghe Cave. The explored length of the cave system now totals 481.5 kilometers, up 41.8 kilometers from the previous expedition, with a vertical depth of 912 meters and 124 connected entrances, making it the world's third longest and Asia's longest cave. Enditem