Wild survival

The experts said the deaths of individual pandas selected to be returned to the wild cannot be ruled out.

On Oct 11, 2-year-old male panda Tao Tao, raised by his mother in a semi-wild area to allow for better preparation for survival in the wild, was released into the Liziping Nature Reserve in Sichuan province almost six years after a similar project ended with the death of male panda Xiang Xiang, who was more than 5 years old, in early 2007.

Britain's Daily Mail newspaper reported in October that Tao Tao is likely to meet the same fate as Xiang Xiang, the first captive-bred panda released into the wild. Xiang Xiang was found dead 10 months after being released, apparently chased to his death by wild pandas.

Sarah Bexell, director of conservation education at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, said: "Animal conservation personnel consider it normal for individuals to die after being released into the wild.

"Reintroduction of wildlife is extremely risky and should be undertaken and understood with great caution. Many individuals, of any reintroduced species, perish in the process because they have lost much of their natural behavior after years in captive environments."

She added: "Each giant panda released into the wild is known by the public and therefore will be followed with great attention. The general public is not aware that the deaths of some individual giant pandas released into the wild are inevitable.

"Chinese experts are still researching the unique obstacles they face in learning how to preserve remaining habitat and to safely release giant pandas."

In the wild, a mother panda will drive away her cub when it is about one and a half years old. "Tao Tao was with his mother throughout the normal duration of time cubs spend with their mothers," Bexell said.

Workers in Tao Tao's reserve captured his mother, Cao Cao, now 15, from the wild when she was young.

The fact Cao Cao was raised by her mother in the wild meant she could teach Tao Tao how to climb trees when other animals approached and to find food under a blanket of snow, critical survival skills.