CHENGDU, July 24 (Xinhua) -- The Wolong China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center, in southwest China's Sichuan Province, has returned four well-selected pregnant giant pandas into the forest, expecting them to deliver their cubs in the wild.
The giant pandas -- Zi Zhu, Ying Ping, Cao Cao and Zhang Ka -- arrived Tuesday at a tract of woodlands in a training base in Hetaoping, Wolong, which was built to help giant pandas live in the wild, said Tang Chunxiang, a senior expert with the center.
"So far, their moods are stable. Cao Cao displays the pregnancy reaction of pacing around," Tang said.
The giant pandas, aged four to five, were expected to give birth to their cubs in the forest, covering some 20,000 square meters, and they will live there until the young pandas are aged three to four, Tang said.
"All of the carefully-chosen pandas have experience of living in the wild and three of them, except Ying Ping, have given birth to cubs. We hope the mothers can teach their cubs life skills to help them survive in the wild," he said.
The would-be mothers, previously kept in captivity, will produce and breed the cubs on their own, while the workers of the center will observe them through surveillance cameras.
