A two-year-old female Hua Jiao, the fifth artificially-bred panda finished a two-year wilderness training program, and was released into the wild in December 2015.
Hua Jiao, weighed around 50kg, and is the younger sister of Tao Tao, the male panda released into the wild in 2012.
“Hua Jiao has met all wilderness training targets and she is absolutely an A graduate,” said Huang Yan, who is in charge of the training. “We are hoping to introduce more artificially-bred pandas into wild to diversify the gene pool of the local panda community,” he said.
Hua Jiao was trained at the wilderness training reserve at Tiantai Mountain. She was released into the Liziping Nature Reserve in Shimian County after undergoing a physical examination. Her elder brother Tao Tao was released in the same reserve.
Researchers have been following Tao Tao and Zhang Xiang with the help of GPS collars, radio positioning tools and DNA extracted from their spoor. Monitoring data shows the animals are doing well.