6 pandas amble toward freedom in China preserve

DUJIANGYAN, China (AP) - January 11, 2012

The pandas on Wednesday ambled into the 50-acre area in the forested hills of Sichuan province where researchers hope they will learn to forage, mate and eventually thrive.

Success would potentially help save the endangered pandas who are stressed from poaching and the economic development that is destroying their natural habitat. An estimated 1,600 pandas live in the wild, while more than 300 are in captivity in China.

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