Home > News

Three giant panda cubs to be returned to the wild after site training from mothers

Two pandas at the Bifengxia base in Ya'an, southwest China's Sichuan province, April 8, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

Three female panda cubs born in captivity last year will be trained by their mothers to climb and forage before they are released to the wild by the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Sichuan province.

The cubs will first be placed in a semi-wild area covering 2,400 square meters and then in a larger area of 40,000 sq meters, and their mothers will be fully responsible for them, a break from the usual practice of having keepers care and feed the cubs.

“Their mothers will teach them how to find food and water and climb trees. Researchers will play a secondary role by providing the mothers with food when bamboo is scarce, and monitoring the mothers and cubs,” said Zhang Guiquan, deputy chief of the center in Wenchuan county.

To minimize human interaction, researchers will wear fluffy black-and-white costumes when they complete physical checkups.

Researchers used to teach cubs how to survive in the wild, a process that took a lot of time and energy, without always achieving the desired results, center chief Zhang Hemin said.

“Panda mothers are much better teachers than humans, because they have an innate knowledge of what to do in the field,” Zhang Hemin said.

The release of captive pandas into the wild is an attempt to enlarge the endangered wild panda population and prevent the species’ extinction. China’s fourth panda census, released last year, found there were only 1,864 wild pandas in the world.

The center has released six panda cubs into the wild in the past decade. The first was Xiang Xiang, a male born in 2001. He was released in 2006, but died in 2007. Researchers surmised Xiang had fallen after taking refuge in a tree during a fight with wild pandas.

The second panda, Tao Tao, was born in 2010 and released in 2012. A year later, he was found frightened in a tree, but an examine showed he was in good health.

After Tao Tao, researchers started choosing female pandas, believing they would be more easily accepted by wild pandas, Zhang Hemin said.

In 2013, 2-year-old Zhang Xiang was released, followed by 2-year-old Hua Jiao in 2015. They have not been seen since, but researchers believe they may be fine.

One other panda, Xue Xue, was released into the wild in 2014, but met a tragic end, traumatized by the caging and transporting process.

Zhang Guiquan said the center may release another 2-year-old female into the wild in April. Releasing captive pandas is a long-term task, but will move forward with one release each year, he said.