China has released a second giant panda
bred in captivity into the wild after giving it special survival training,
state-run media say.
The release of male panda Taotao, from a
nature reserve in Sichuan province, follows that of Xiang Xiang in 2006, says
Xinhua news agency.
Scientists are hoping that the
two-year-old has enough skills to survive and help increase the panda
population.
Xiang Xiang died in 2007 after he got
into a fight with wild pandas.
Taotao's mother fed him and taught him
basic skills. But scientists at the Wolong Nature Reserve also drew up a
survival training schedule for Taotao.
Part of this involved handlers wearing
panda suits to prevent familiarity with humans.
Zhang Hemin, a director at China's giant
panda conservation centre, told Xinhua that Taotao "has lived and grown in
semi-wild conditions since he was very little", compared to Xiang Xiang.
"This means its fighting capability
and survival skills both improved significantly," he said.
However he said that nothing was certain,
as Taotao would be facing natural enemies like other wild animals.
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