Ten giant pandas Tuesday arrived in Shanghai, the host city of the 2010 World Expo, on a chartered plane for a year-long display.

Workers with the China Wolong Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province put the panda cubs, six females and four males, into cages at 8:20 a.m., and drove them to the Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu, the provincial capital, said Li Desheng, the center's deputy director.

Health checks showed that the pandas have been in good health after leaving their home, the Ya'an Bifeng Gorge Breeding Base of Sichuan.

They have been settled at the Shanghai Zoo, but still need sometime in quarantine and to adapt to the new environment before they can greet the public, Li said.

The cubs, all about one year and a half old, were born in the breeding base after the deadly Wenchuan earthquake on May 12, 2008.

The pandas will go on display in the Shanghai Zoo in the first half of 2010 and then in the Shanghai Wildlife Zoo in the second half, accompanied by breeding specialists and veterinarians, he said.

"That is the largest scale of display of giant pandas outside Sichuan," he said, adding that it would also reflect the country's enduring efforts to protect the wildlife.

The zoos have built new or renovated existing exhibition areas and established bamboo supply bases to ensure sufficient food for the pandas, said Cai Youming, deputy head of the Shanghai municipal forestry bureau.

Ruan Deci, who adopted "Olympics", one of the ten pandas, said she flew to Shanghai several days ago to check the panda's new home.

"I am confident that the pandas will start a wonderful life there," she said.

In their home in Sichuan, the pandas were brought up in groups of three or four, said Li Guo, a senior expert with the center.

But in order to enhance the intimacy between them, workers have allowed the 10 cubs to live together about 20 days before their departure, he said. "They've had a happy time together."

Giant pandas, known for being sexually inactive, are among the world's most endangered animals due to shrinking habitat.

There are about 1,600 giant pandas living in China's wild, mostly in Sichuan and the northwestern provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu.

China has built 62 giant panda nature reserves that cover 3.2 million hectares and are home to 70 percent of the animals in wild, according to the State Forestry Administration.

(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2010)