On September 15, researchers with the Wolong Panda Protection and Research Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province and local armed police moved Xiangxiang, the first penned panda to receive training in the wilderness, to a larger training yard, where conditions are closer to the animal's natural habitat. It indicates the beginning of China's ongoing project of returning penned pandas to the wild. Experts predict that the first penned panda will go back to nature in 2006.

In the future, China's panda protection will focus on training in the wilderness. Through this project, scientists attempt to increase pandas' ability for survival so as to make it possible for them to return to nature. The whole project will cost several hundred millions of yuan.

According to Huang Yan, senior engineer of the center, the long-term penned life has made many pandas gradually lose their wild nature. Usually, they lazily sit in the cages of zoos, ignoring people's enthusiastic greetings and even showing little interest in their favorite bamboo. "Putting Xiangxiang to the wild training yard can reduce people's interference on him and help him gradually adapt to the wild life," said Huang.

It is reported there are altogether more than 160 penned pandas in the world. Many artificially-bred pandas have lost their wild nature. It is even difficult for them to mate; only less than 10 percent of the male pandas can mate automatically and 24 percent of the female pandas can get pregnant and give births to baby pandas.

Zhang Hemin, director of the center, said: "After the past year's experiment, Xiangxiang has learned how to survive by himself. His wild nature has been fully exposed. He now has the awareness of occupying a territory. Just like other wild pandas, he tries hard to guard his own territory. He often roars towards or even attack people who get into his territory. Meanwhile, he moves faster and has stronger sense of directions and locations. The new training yard is designed to meet his demand for food and a larger space for activities."

"By 2006," Zhang continued, "Xiangxiang will grow up as a standard panda in the wild. All his close contacts with human will be cut off thoroughly. By then, he will become the first penned panda capable of surviving independently in the wilderness."

(China.org.cn by Wang Qian, September 21, 2004)