Three female panda cubs born last year will be trained for reintroduction into the wild by the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Wenchuan county, Sichuan province.

The cubs will be placed first with their mothers in a semi-wild area covering 2,400 square meters at a height of 1,820 meters above sea level. Then they will be placed in a larger area covering 40,000 sq m at 2,000 to 2,100 meters above sea level.

Their mothers will be fully responsible for the cubs-a break from the usual practice of keepers caring for cubs and feeding them milk.