(XUE YUBIN)

A 55.8-kg female panda, Xue Xue, is released into the wild on October 14 and has become the fourth giant panda to be bred in captivity and released into the wild in China.

Xue Xue had been trained in a wild training base in southwest China's Sichuan Province for two years before her release.

China first started sending captive-bred pandas into the wild in 2006 when a five-year-old male, Xiang Xiang, was released. Giant pandas are one of the world's most endangered species. Only an estimated 1,600 of the animals live in the wild, mostly in the mountains of Sichuan, while more than 300 live in captivity.