Wolong Giant Panda Reservation and Research Center (WGPRRC) in southwest China's Sichuan Province has launched a live webcam on the everyday life of pandas via its website (www.pandaclub.net).

 

About 80 artificially-bred giant pandas live in the research center.

 

Meanwhile, an estimated of 154 wild giant pandas, nearly 10 percent of the total in China, live at the Wolong nature reserve in the province, the largest panda habitat in the world.

 

"PandaCam" goes on air from 10:00 to 10:20 and 10:30 to 10:50 in the morning and 2:00 to 2:20 and 2:30 to 2:50 in the afternoon from Monday to Friday.

 

The website has opened an English version so panda fans from around the world can take pictures using the net cameras after passing a quiz on panda knowledge.

 

The broadcasting system was jointly established by the WGPRRC, the Computer Network Information Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and A&M University of the United States.

 

The giant panda is one of the world's most endangered species and is found only in China. An estimated 1,500 pandas live in western China's Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces.

 

(Xinhua News Agency June 9, 2006)