Culture & Sports
14:46, 28-Jul-2017
Giant panda keeper in panda costume interacts with cubs
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Wildlife workers wear panda costumes in preparation for releasing cubs into the wild at the Wolong National Nature Reserve in southwest China's Sichuan Province.
They dressed up in panda costumes that smelled like bear urine in an attempt to mirror conditions the cubs will encounter in the wild.
Workers say the panda costume is important for helping the panda cubs get ready for life in the wild. Furthermore, sometimes the keepers even imitate wild giant pandas’ voice.
In China, the project of rehabilitation of captive-bred giant pandas to be released into the wild started in 2006. However, the project is still in initial stage as a captive-bred giant panda named Hesheng died in September, 2016, six months after it was released into the wild.