First Released Panda Died in Wild

A five-year-old panda - who last year became the first to be released into the wild after being bred in captivity - has died, state media and Chinese nature reserve officials said yesterday.

The body of Xiang Xiang was found Feb. 19 on snow-covered ground in the forests of Sichuan province in China's southwest, the Xinhua News Agency said. He survived less than a year in the wild after nearly three years of training in survival techniques and defence tactics.

"Xiang Xiang died of serious internal injuries in the left side of his chest and stomach by falling from a high place," said Heng Yi, an official from the Wolong Giant Panda Research Centre in Sichuan. "The scratches and other minor injuries caused by other wild pandas were found on his body.

So Xiang Xiang may have fallen from trees when being chased by those pandas."Heng said the long delay in announcing Xiang Xiang's death was attributed to the need for a full investigation."We are all sad about Xiang Xiang, but it doesn't mean the project has failed," Zhang Hemin, the centre's head, was quoted as saying by Xinhua. "The lessons we have learned from what happened to Xiang Xiang will help us adapt and improve the project."

The nearly 80-kilogram male panda was released from Wolong in April 2006 and had been trained almost three years to survive in the wild. Xiang Xiang, whose name means auspicious, learned how to build a den, forage for food and mark his territory, experts at Wolong have said. He also developed defensive skills like howling and biting.

Li Desheng, deputy director of the Wolong centre, said Xiang Xiang's case proves that wild-panda communities are reluctant to accept male outsiders."We chose Xiang Xiang because we thought that a strong male panda would have a better chance of surviving in the harsh natural environment," Li was quoted as saying. "But the other male pandas clearly saw Xiang Xiang as a threat.

Next time we will choose a female panda."State media last year said that Xiang Xiang hesitated for a second when the door of his cage was opened, then scampered off into a nearby bamboo forest where he was tracked by a global positioning device attached to his collar.

He has been buried at the foot of a mountain, about 13 kilometres from the Wolong centre, Li said.