After having received training for more than two years to return to their wild state, the giant panda bear couple Ying Xue and Ba Xi will be able to enjoy nature again.
Throughout this period, the bears, a male and a female, have attended lessons to survive in freedom in the Wolong National Nature Reserve, a protected area located in the province of Sichuan, in southwestern China.
The reserve, founded in 1963, covers an area of some 200,000 hectares in the Qionglai Mountains region where 4,000 different species live. They include a total of 150 giant pandas, red pandas, golden-breasted langurs - endemic to China - or white-snouted deer - native to these mountains and Tibet.
The escalation has been one of the biggest bets of the workers of the reserve in which these pandas, who are only separated by 14 days of life, have learned different techniques that will allow them to live independently in freedom.
This is the second time that the center releases a pair of pandas, as it did just a year ago with two two and three year olds who, like these, received specific training from the moment they arrived. they were born
During the last decades a network of research centers, natural reserves, breeding facilities and sanctuaries have been established in Sichuan province to ensure the evolution of different native species, including the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), one of the most beloved animals on the planet and icon and symbol of the struggle for conservation.
As an example, the Chengdu Research and Breeding Base, the capital of Sichuan Province, has released a total of seven pandas bred in captivity since 2006.
Thanks to the efforts for their protection, the giant panda has passed in recent years from being "in danger" to being "vulnerable, according to the Red List of Endangered Species that the International Union for the Conservation of Nature has been developing since 1963 ( IUCN) because its population has increased by 17% during the last decade.
To date, it is estimated that there are just under 2,000 specimens living in the wild in the temperate forests of southwest China and about 225 in captivity.