A two-year-old panda named Taotao is about to start a new life in the wild. He's left his wild training center in Wolong, in southwest China's Sichuan Province, for a nature reserve 400 kilometers away. He will be released into the reserve on Thursday. Taotao is the second attempt by Chinese panda researchers, since the first panda died 5 years ago.

Taotao will be on his own on Thursday. Freedom means finding his own food and having to tell friend from predator. The pandas keepers have been preparing for Taotao for this day for 26 months.

The cub has learnt to escape black bears and leopards by distinguishing their growl, or sniffing out their droppings.

Huang Yan, Deputy Director of China Giant Panda Conservation & Research CTR, said, "When he senses the smell, he turns away immediately, and climbs up the tree. He can recognize the potential risks."

Taotao also needs to know how to get along with other pandas in the wild.

Huang said other pandas could be his mate, or enemies. And this is what Taotao needs to determine by himself.

But he won't be completely alone. The researchers will be tracking him with GPS, and will intervene when necessary.

When he was six months old, his mother Caocao and him were moved to a large mountainous area for the wild habitat training.

Taotao has never seen a human face. His trainers wore panda suits and hid their smell, so Taotao will be wary when he sees a human in the future, just like wild pandas.

The other panda released into the wild fell from high and died after a fight for food with other pandas.

(CNTV.cn October 10, 2012)