The 10 giant pandas on loan to the city for the World Expo said goodbye to the Shanghai Zoo yesterday as they were taken to their new home at the Shanghai Wildlife Park.

Workers move one of 10 pandas at Shanghai Zoo yesterday. [Shanghai Daily]

Wildlife park officials said yesterday that the pandas will have today to adjust to their new surroundings and that the public will be able to see them tomorrow.

The pandas were transported in two air-conditioned vehicles. Two police cars escorted the vehicles.

Zookeepers used bamboo leaves, apples and carrots to lure the pandas into cages. All 10 were rather cooperative, entering the cages voluntarily.

The trip took 1 hour and the pandas appeared comfortable in their new home as they played, explored their surroundings or sat around eating bamboo leaves.

The wildlife park is a step up on the luxury scale for the pandas. Their new home is air conditioned and the temperature will be set at around 25 degrees Celsius.

The park will provide the animals with a similar diet as the zoo. This will include bamboo from Sheshan Hill in Songjiang District.

"The recipe was made by experts from the Wolong Panda Research Center, and the pandas are accustomed to this food," said Su Feilong, a wildlife park official.

The 10 pandas, all born after the massive earthquake in Sichuan Province in May 2008, arrived in Shanghai in January. They have grown about 20 to 25 kilograms since arriving. They will stay at the wildlife park until the end of the year.

However, a Shanghai Zoo official said that they have approached the Wolong center about the possibility of keeping several pandas in Shanghai

"It will be great if some of them can live in Shanghai," said Yuan Yaohua, deputy director of the zoo.

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