China returns artificially bred panda to nature
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E-mail Xinhua, October 11, 2012
Firstly, it was fed and raised by its mother, and learned basics such as climbing from the older animal. Secondly, Taotao withstood mud-rock flows, snow disasters and rainstorms with its mother, all the while improving its basic skills. It learned to fear humans and hide from them. During the third session, Taotao was trained to recognize enemies and its own kind.
"Sending artificially bred pandas back to nature after providing them with training will help them integrate with wild pandas. This will be conducive to improving genetic diversity among wild pandas regionally, increasing the number of wild pandas, and enhancing their survival capabilities," according to Wu Daifu, Taotao's feeder.
However, Zhang Hemin worried whether Taotao will pull through the difficulties in inevitable competitions with wild pandas and avoiding natural enemies such as bears, leopards and wolves.
"Even though we have used new training methods, Taotao is only the second such panda released to nature, and we remain at the experimental stage," said Zhang.
Experts said the returning of artificially bred pandas to the wild shows that China has entered a new stage in its panda protection efforts. So far, the country has established 64 nature reserves for pandas, facilities which have offered effective protection to more than 70 percent of its wild pandas.
The number of wild pandas in China has increased to more than 1,600. Meanwhile, the number of captive-bred pandas stands at 342, according to Yin Hong, vice chief of the State Forestry Administration.
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China sent the artificially bred and trained panda into Liziping Nature Reserve in southwest China on Thursday.[Photo/CFP] |
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