Artificially bred China panda dies in the wild
The worlds only artificially bred panda living in the wild has fallen to its death less than a year after it was released, possibly after a fight with other pandas, Xinhua news agency said on Thursday.
Xiang Xiang, 5, was released at the Wolong Nature Reserve for Giant Pandas in the mountainous southwestern province of Sichuan in April last year.
Experts found the body of Xiang Xiang on February 19 and the panda might have fallen from a high place in a fight with wild pandas, Xinhua said, citing the China Giant Pandas Protection and Research Centre in Wolong.
Xiang Xiangs release came after nearly three years of training to toughen him up at the research centre.
Through surveillance we found out that Xiang Xiang had gradually adapted to the wild environment, Zhang Hemin, director of the centre, said in July.
We have also detected other wild pandas in the area, which means Xiang Xiang is being integrated into a wild population.
Researchers had fitted a global positioning system device around the animals neck to monitor his activities, CCTV said.
Surveillance of Xiang Xiang was to have continued until 2008 when the GPS hoop<sup>1 was to drop off automatically after its battery ran out, Zhang said.
By then, our Xiang Xiang will have become a real wild panda.
Experts had studied his choice of territory, his meals and waste, but strictly2 avoided direct contact so as to help him completely shake off dependence3 on humans, CCTV said.
State media said in July China had raised about 180 giant pandas in captive breeding programs and spent $12.5 million since 2003 training them for release into the wild.
The giant panda is one of the worlds most endangered species and is found only in China. An estimated 1,000 live in Sichuan and in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces in the northwest.

1. artificially：人工地
2. toughen up：使強壯
3. surveillance：監督、監視
4. integrate：使一體化
5. shake off：擺脫
周四，據報道世界上唯一一只被放歸野外的人工飼養大熊貓在放歸不到一年后在與其他大熊貓爭斗中墜落摔死。
去年4月，五歲的祥祥被放到四川西南臥龍大熊貓自然保護區。中國大熊貓保護研究中心說：專家們于2月19日發現祥祥的尸體，它可能在與其他熊貓爭奪地盤的時候從高處落下。祥祥在放歸之前曾同意將近三年的存活練習。中心主任去年7月說：通過跟蹤察看，大家發現祥祥已經漸漸適應了野外環境。大家也察看了此地區的其它野生熊貓，也就是說祥祥正漸漸融入它們。央視說研究職員在祥祥脖子上安裝了全球定位系統項圈，便捷監視它的行為。項圈電量大約能持續到2008年，沒電后會自動掉落。到那時，大家的祥祥就是純正的野生熊貓了。
專家們研究了他選擇領地、飲食和排泄狀況，但沒直接接觸它，以幫助它徹底擺脫人類幫助。去年7月國家媒體稱中國人工飼養了大約180只大熊貓，從2003年為培訓它們共投入1250萬USD。大熊貓是世界上最稀有的瀕危物種之一，并且僅在中國被發現。現在大約1000只居住在四川、山西、甘肅等西北區域。</sup>