Panda researchers at the Wolong base in Sichuan Province are planning to release six more pregnant bears into a semi-wild environment this year hoping to help more captive-bred pandas return to the wilderness.

The move is aimed at expanding a wild training program that has proven successful with panda mother Cao Cao and her cub Tao Tao, the first-ever baby panda born under wild training, said Huang Yan, a senior zoologist and head of Wolong's wild training base.

"The two pandas are very healthy and have acquired basic survival skills in the wild," he said at a meeting with panda experts at the Wolong Nature Reserve Administration on Thursday.

Tao Tao survived a blizzard in March and has become more independent. "He's learned to mark and guard his territory, a trait only wild pandas have."
Cao Cao was released during her pregnancy in July. A month later, she gave birth to Tao Tao.

In February, the mother and cub were transfered to a much larger training base in Wolong. Though still fenced, their new home, rich in vegetation, is much more open than the traditional caged environment.

The pandas will live there until the young panda turns two and a half years old in early 2013, Huang said.

At that time, Tao Tao will be released into the wild mountains. Panda keepers will stop feeding the two pandas by the end of this year, Huang said.

Over the last year, zoologists have kept an eye on the pandas and continued to provide them with food when necessary. To simulate a wild environment, zoo workers and vets who entered the zone always disguised themselves as pandas by donning black-and-white fur coats and crawling on the ground.

In the next phase of wild training, however, workers will use the sounds and smells of panda's natural enemies such as leopards to enhance the bears' vigilance in the wild.

"We might also disguise ourselves as leopards," Huang said.

China's plan to save endangered species by releasing captive-bred pandas back into the wild began in 2003 with Xiang Xiang, a male cub being trained to survive in the wild.

Xiang Xiang was released in 2006, but was found dead 10 months later in a remote corner of Wolong. He had apparently been attacked by native wild pandas.
The program was resumed last year at two panda research centers in Wolong and Chengdu.

Giant pandas in captivity are poor breeders. Only 24 percent of females in captivity give birth, posing a serious threat to repopulation.

Xinhua