Home / Environment / News Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read | Comment
Police dog to train pandas
Adjust font size:

Researchers in southwestern China's Sichuan Province plan to use a police dog to help captive-bred giant pandas better survive in the wild.

 

The first panda returned to the wild died.

 

Experts will now release the police dog and some other herbivorous animals into the living area of four giant pandas to teach the pandas to fight, Chengdu Daily quoted the Wolong Nature Reserve for Giant Pandas in Sichuan as saying today.

 

The four giant pandas are candidates for the country's second project to release the precious animals into the wild after Xiang Xiang, a five-year-old male panda, was found dead in the snow on February 28 this year, almost 10 months after it was released to the wild, the report said.

 

Xiang Xiang, which had received almost two years of training, was said to have fallen from a high place after getting into a fight with wild pandas for food or territory.

 

Experts at Wolong said Xiang Xiang's male gender may have caused its death because males are usually regarded as a threat.

 

The release location may also have contributed, the report said.

 

Experts may release more than two female artificially-bred pandas into the wildness this time as females are seen as less of a threat by their wild peers, the report said.

 

Other options were to release one or two panda couples or a mother panda with her cub or a pregnant panda since the cub could adapt to its new environment at a younger age, the report added.

 

Locations for the second release may be designated around Emei Mountain areas in Sichuan where the pandas used to live, the report said.

 

The giant panda is one of the world's most endangered species and is found only in China. An estimated 1,000 live in Sichuan and in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces in the northwest.

 

(Shanghai Daily December 21, 2007)

Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read
Comment
Pet Name
Anonymous

China Archives
Related >>
- A 20-year history of the Giant Panda
- Giant panda conservation
- Pandas lived in Hainan 400,000 years ago
- Panda cub debuts at Chongqing zoo
- Police probe reports of illegal panda hunting
- Injured wild panda recovering after operation
Most Viewed >>
Air Quality 
Cities Major Pollutant Air Quality Level
Beijing particulate matter II
Shanghai particulate matter III1
Guangzhou sulfur dioxide II
Chongqing particulate matter III2
Xi'an particulate matter III1
Most Read
- White paper on energy
- Endangered monkeys grow in number
- Yangtze River's Three Gorges 2 mln years in the making
- The authorities sets sights on polluted soil
- China, US benefit from clean energy
NGO Events Calendar Tips
- Hand in hand to protect endangered animals and plants
- Changchun, Mini-marathon Aimed at Protecting Siberian Tiger
- Water Walk by Nature University
- Green Earth Documentary Salon
- Prof. Maria E. Fernandez to Give a Lecture on Climate Change
More
Archives
UN meets on climate change
The UN Climate Change Conference brought together representatives of over 180 countries and observers from various organizations.
Panda Facts
A record 28 panda cubs born via artificial insemination have survived in 2006.
South China Karst
Rich and unique karst landforms located in south China display exceptional natural beauty.
Saving the Tibetan Antelopes
The rare animals survive in the harsh natural environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
More
Laws & Regulations
- Forestry Law of the People's Republic of China
- Meteorology Law of the People's Republic of China
- Fire Control Law of the People's Republic of China
- Law on Protecting Against and Mitigating Earthquake Disasters
- Law of the People's Republic of China on Conserving Energy
More
Links:
State Environmental Protection Administration
Ministry of Water Resources
Ministry of Land and Resources
China Environmental Industry Network
Chengdu Giant Panda Research Base