A team of Chinese and US zoologists have kicked off a joint research program on a series of behaviors of wild giant pandas in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

They will focus on the movement and reproduction of giant pandas, but will also study mating and sexual behavior, environmental influences on behavior, and influences on hereditary structure posted by the movement modes and marriage system of giant pandas.

The three-year program will be jointly carried out by zoologists from the Animals Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Zoological Society of San Diego, the United States, in the Foping Nature Reserve for Giant Pandas in Shaanxi. The program will cost US$660,000.

The Foping Nature Reserve covers an area of 29,240 hectares and is considered by many international organizations a key place for bio-diversity protection for local well-protected vegetation. There is one giant panda per 1.5 square kilometers of area in the nature reserve.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences set up a giant pandas research base in the Foping nature reserve last year.

Zoologists will use GIS (geographical information system), GPS and other advanced technologies in their research.

(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2005)