Staff members with the Wolong Giant Panda Protection Research Center of China give a health checkup to giant panda "Xiang Xiang" at the center in southwest China's Sichuan Province April 27, 2006. "Xiang Xiang", a four-year-old male giant panda which is bred and raised at the center, has received training for living in the wild, the first of its kind in the world. The center will release "Xiang Xiang" into the wild on April 28. (Xinhua Photo)

    WOLONG, Sichuan, April 28 (Xinhua) -- A four-year-old captive-raised giant panda took an historic step when he began his walk into the wild on Friday morning.

    He became the first-ever artificially-bred giant panda to be released into the wild.

    Xiang Xiang was set free on a hillside 2,700 meters above the sea level in Wolong area, a traditional habitat for the endangeredspecies, in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

    He hesitated for a second and then wandered into bamboo groves 10 meters away.

    Weighing 83 kilograms and measuring 1.1 meters long, Xiang Xiang, meaning "Auspicious", looked healthy and energetic and seemed to be excited to arrive in his natural habitat.

    Watching him disappear, Liu Bin, his 28-year-old keeper, turnedaway with tears in eyes.

    "Xiang Xiang is just like my child who has grown up and left the family to live independently," said Liu, "I hate to part with Xiang Xiang but I hope he can survive on his own without forgetting me."

    Liu, who was with Xiang Xiang for more than three years, said he used to be a docile panda, who loved to follow Liu "begging" for steamed corn buns.

    He ate eight kilograms of carefully selected, finger-thin bamboo shoots, 500 grams of steamed corn buns, two or three applesand 600 milliliters of milk daily. "He often ate in a gentle manner," Liu said.

    Born into the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Wolong in 2001, Xiang Xiang was selected aged two from more than 100 giant pandas bred in captivity for natural habitat training. He was selected because he was strong and healthy, saidexperts with the Wolong center.

    Training began in the 20,000 square meter open air training center, and he was later transferred to a home 10 times larger that simulated the natural habitat.

    After nearly three years, he had learned to build a den, foragefor food and mark his territory, and had developed defensive skills by howling and biting just as a wild panda would do, said Zhang Hemin, head of the Wolong panda research center.

    Experts at the center who performed Xiang Xiang's last physicalcheck-up, taking his blood pressure and giving him several inoculations, declared him to be strong and healthy.

    Zhang said they chose to release Xiang Xiang in late April because that is when his favorite food, bamboo shoots, are sprouting, making it easier to survive. He will be tracked with aglobal positioning device attached to a collar.

    He has a twin brother who is still in captivity at the Wolong center. Experts plan to compare their development.

    Xiang Xiang faces two major challenges: assimilation with the established group of wild pandas and possible parasitic infection,said Zhou Xiaoping, deputy chief engineer at the center.

    The site of his liberation is a traditional panda habitat, located in center of the Wolong protection zone and only over 10 kilometers from the research center.

    The third national survey on wild pandas in 2003 showed four living in the area.

    "Parasites can be fatal for a giant panda," Zhou said. "The bamboo shoots they eat in captivity are disinfected and scientistsregularly check pandas for parasites.

    "Xiang Xiang will have to handle this on himself in the future," Zhou said.

    Xiang Xiang's liberation marks a significant change in saving the endangered species by training them to live in the wild, said Zhao Xuemin, deputy head of the State Forestry Administration (SFA).

    Chinese scientists had given priority to artificial-breeding and protection, Zhao said, adding that the release heralded efforts to undertake wilderness training with other endangered species.

    Plans were afoot to release Chinese alligators, David's deer, wild horses and red ibis into the wild.

    Giant pandas are the world's most endangered species. Over 180 live in captivity, and 1,590 in the wild, mostly in the mountains of Sichuan. Enditem

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