In October 2012, when Tao Tao was just over 2 years old, he was released into the forests of the Liziping Nature Reserve. There, he went on to live a healthy life for more than a decade and even reproduced, bringing new genes into the wild panda population — a significant milestone for the reintroduction program.
"After years of exploration, our team finally discovered a training method that enabled Tao Tao and 10 other pandas to successfully return to the wild. Releasing pandas back into the wild is the most effective way to protect small wild populations and is the ultimate goal of giant panda conservation," Zhang says.
