Female panda released into the wild

It didn't take long for panda Zhang Xiang to take her first steps into the wild.

Kept in her cage for four days before her release on Wednesday morning at Liziping Nature Reserve in Sichuan province, the 2-year-old panda had her hip facing the door when Wu Daifu, a panda expert, tried to let her out.

"She was getting more and more impatient after being kept in the cage for so many days and she was scratching the iron railings of the cage with her claws," said Wu, who dressed in a panda costume to lure Zhang Xiang out.