Giant Panda Released Into Wild In China

A two-year-old female giant panda bred in captivity has been released into a protected wild area in China.

Zhang Xiang is the third panda to be returned to its natural habitat in the country in the past seven years, according to state television.

Her keepers dressed in specially-scented panda costumes to avoid scaring her and jeopardising the operation.

CCTV pictures showed Zhang Xiang was initially reluctant to leave the cage when the door was opened.

But her confidence grew and after some sniffing and exploring she disappeared into the forest, in Sichuan province.

Experts have put a GPS collar on her neck to keep track of her.

Zhang Xiang will spend two weeks in an interim area where there is plenty of water and bamboo before she is allowed to go off into the real wild.

She has been given survival lessons at a training base in the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan since she was born.

Another six panda cubs are being prepared for reintroduction to the wild there, according to the official English newspaper China Daily.

Chinese media reported that of 10 pandas released into the wild since 1983, only two are still there.

Six were brought back to the breeding centre after severe weight loss, one was found dead and another is missing presumed dead.

Giant pandas are one of the world's most endangered animals with roughly 300 living in captivity.

Fewer than 1,600 live in the wild in China, mostly in Sichuan and neighbouring Shaanxi province.