Original subtitles

In these mountains roams one of the rarest species

on our planet.

A shy, elusive, and gentle creature,

the giant panda.

Pandas once ranged in great numbers

between Beijing and the Himalayas.

But now, after centuries of human expansion

and destruction of their habitat,

they are on the brink of extinction.

Today, fewer than 1,600 wild pandas remain.

But against all odds, the people of China have begun

one of the greatest conservation efforts in human history.

Their aim, to increase the numbers in captivity,

and far more ambitiously,

to return pandas back to the wild,

to their natural home.

Ya'an City in Sichuan province.

It's home to panda keeper Liu Juan,

also known as Merry.

Merry has what many might consider a dream job.

Every day she gets to hold, train,

and care for one of the world's most beloved animals.

Every morning, Merry and her colleagues commute

to the China Conservation and Research Center

for the Giant Panda

in the Bifengxia Mountain Park.

This has become the focal point

of panda conservation in China.

It was thrust into the spotlight when in 2008,

a devastating earthquake

ripped through the panda heartlands, 190 miles away.

Many of the pandas here are evacuees

from that disaster.

In charge is director Zhang Ho Min,

affectionately known as Papa Panda.

He has dedicated the last 30 years of his life

to saving the panda from extinction.

The ultimate aim is to release pandas

back into the wild.

Zhang and his team first have to build

a large and viable breeding group in captivity.

Breeding pandas is extremely difficult.

Female pandas have fit of a just two days a year.

Urine tests have shown

that that time has arrived for nine-year-old Xhui-Xiu.

A young male called Yung Yung

has been chosen as her best genetic match.

It's vital to let pandas communicate

with each other prior to mating.

It's all about smell.

Male pandas send signals by rubbing their scent

into their ears.

These act like beacons,

spreading messages on the mountain air.

Xhui-Xiu's acute sense of smell

tells her that there's a male nearby

who's ready to mate.

Although Yung Yung is enthusiastic,

Xhui-Xiu is not so sure.

But time is precious,

so, Lu Lu, a far more experienced male,

is now introduced to Xhui-Xiu.

Zhang and his team have waited patiently for this moment.

Like people, pandas can be particular about their mate.

Today, the wait has paid off.

The chances are good

that Xhui-Xiu will conceive from the mating,

but to improve the odds,

the veterinary team will also artificially inseminate her.

Xhui-Xui is sedated for the procedure.

It's four months since the mating session

and only now is it possible

to discover whether Xhui-Xiu is pregnant.

The procedures and equipment could be frightening,

but the keepers treat the pandas

with kindness and gentle words.

At this stage, a baby panda would be just one-thousandth

the size of its mother.

Ultrasound picks out what looks like a tiny fetus.

More scans over the following days confirm the team's hunch,

and Xhui-Xiu is moved to the maternity wing.

The expectant mothers are monitored 24 hours a day.

It's hard to predict when a panda is going to give birth.

It can happen any time

from three to six months after conception.

They seem to favor the warmest days in August,

which in the wild, is when the bamboo is at its richest.

Xhui-Xiu is off her food and clearly uncomfortable.

Merry reaches out to Director Zhang,

who decides to call in the team to observe.

Finally, the tiny baby begins to show.

The cub weighs just three ounces.

Her mother 800 times that much.

But Little Xhui-Xiu isn't the only new arrival.

Her mother gave birth to twins.

In the wild, it's not uncommon

for pandas to give birth to twins,

but the mother generally favors the stronger of the two.

The other rarely survives.

But here at the Panda Center,

every newborn is treated with equal care.

In the incubator room,

Little Xhui-Xiu's twin

will be under round-the-clock supervision.

Her body temperature is kept

at a constant 104 degrees,

just as it would be if she were still in her mother's arms.

The survival rate is now an impressive 95 percent,

but it wasn't always so.

In the early days, two-thirds of all incubated cubs died

within the first 80 days.

Zhang and his team were desperate to understand why.

Mother had the answers.

Keepers noticed that every two hours,

she would gently massage her baby's stomach with her tongue.

When they copied her actions,

they made a breakthrough.

Gently patting the stomach

helps the tiny panda to poo

when its own muscles aren't strong enough.

It was a key discovery

that helped the vulnerable cubs survive.

Still, it was important

that each cub had time with its mother.

So the team decided to keep swapping the twins.

But you can't just ask a panda to hand over its baby.

This is highly dangerous.

The mother is capable of killing a grown man with a single blow.

The first cub is successfully removed.

And its twin takes its place,

with mother back in charge.

The keepers will continue to swap the twins every two days

until they are six months old.

Little Xhui-Xiu is only four weeks old

but already she has her black and whites.

She's still blind and vulnerable,

but nature has equipped her with a voice loud enough

to summon her mother through dense forest.

Because mom eats only bamboo,

which is low in nutrients,

she can't produce much milk.

But what little she does produce

is full of antibodies to keep her cub healthy.

The keepers make sure mother's milk is shared equally

between the twins, who both need milk every three hours.

At seven months,

her older cousins and siblings

each weigh around 40 pounds,

with sharp teeth and claws.

They will remain here

or travel overseas as VIPs.

They have been close to humans their whole lives

and are thriving in captivity.

These youngsters will spend the next 12 months

playing together in the panda kindergarten.

Merry is like their elder sister.

She knows the personality of each and every one.

Just like people, pandas can be very different.

Some are shy and retiring...

while others are bold and adventurous.

Each new generation born here

is a cause for celebration.

But for Zhang, saving the panda from extinction

is just the beginning.

Zhang's dream of restoring pandas to the wild

presents him with the biggest challenge of all.

These captive-bred pandas,

nurtured by humans,

are not equipped with the natural instincts needed

to survive in the mountains.

It was clear to Zhang

that to successfully return pandas to the wild

would require a different approach.

He came up with a new program

here at the Wolong Panda Base,

one of the last places on Earth

where wild pandas still roam free.

Its headquarters were virtually destroyed

in the earthquake of 2008.

Though largely derelict,

some of the enclosures still remain.

Merry will be working alongside Zhang.

But this isn't her first time at the panda base.

She was a keeper here when the earthquake struck,

and this return brings back terrible memories.

The mountains above the center rained down tons

of rock and earth.

Boulders crashed into everything.

Merry recalls running to the end of the bridge

to rescue pandas as it swayed back and forth

from the sheer power of the massive quake.

Bad as it was, they haven't given up on this place.

Before the quake, they shared a wonderful life here.

Now, for Merry, Zhang, and the team,

this is a new beginning...

an opportunity to try new methods

in their quest to return pandas

to their real home in the wild.

For this project,

parts of the base have been brought back to life

and are home to a revolutionary process called "wild training."

Now, the humans must take a step back.

A panda that's reliant on humans

will never be able to cope in the wild.

They will spend the first two years of their lives

here in this two-acre enclosure, with their mothers,

exposed to nature and the elements.

It's the females that are

the fewest generations removed from the wild

that are selected for the task.

They have the natural instincts needed to survive.

Their job is to pass their knowledge on to their young.

Pandas eat up to 80 pounds of bamboo every day,

and the bamboo growing in these small enclosures

could never sustain that kind of appetite.

Humans have to intervene,

so they've come up with a novel approach.

It's not enough to look the part.

They have to smell the part, too.

Scented with panda poo and pee,

these outfits help to mask human odors.

Today, everyone's focus

is on a 21-month-old male called Tao-Tao.

In the lower enclosure,

his mother has taught him the basic survival skills.

Tao-Tao is the first panda in this experimental project

to be selected for the crucial next stage of wild training,

which takes place deeper in the panda heartland.

But first, the keepers have to capture him.

He's too young to be a threat to humans,

but his mother's taught him well,

and catching him isn't going to be easy.

The journey to the new enclosure

will bring Tao-Tao up into the same forest environment

as his wild cousins.

These mountainsides are too steep to be farmed or logged,

so they have survived untouched--

a perfect panda habitat.

A mile straight up the mountain,

these upper enclosures are as close to real wilderness

as Tao Tao will get

before he's finally released into the wild.

Tao-Tao's mother isn't far behind.

She will not be going with Tao-Tao when he's released,

so she can be with handlers not wearing panda suits.

Left to fend for themselves, they will need to find bamboo

and water naturally, in their new habitat.

One of the reasons giant pandas are nearly extinct

is because, for centuries,

humans have cut down their forests

and turned them into farms.

If Zhang wants to return pandas to the wild,

then he has to make sure there is some wilderness

for them to live in.

As tragic as it was,

the earthquake that devastated this region may,

ironically, have helped the panda's plight.

Many families are now willing to leave

if the government helps find them housing in safer areas.

To give the panda a home here in the Wor-Long Valley,

China replants thousand of acres of forest each year.

It's one of the world's largest environmental projects.

It's Zhang's job to encourage everyone

to share the land with pandas.

Zhang spends as much time as he can

with people who live in the panda wilderness areas.

How children treat the panda and its environment

will determine the fate of the species.

Zhang hopes that this kind of up-close experience

will instill a real love

and respect for the panda.

Tao-Tao and his mother

have been living undisturbed

for five months in their mountain enclosure.

But he must pass one final test.

A young panda is vulnerable

to the jackals, wolves, and leopards

that hunt these hillsides.

Like most animals,

pandas are born with a natural fear of predators.

But captive pandas often don't recognize danger

until it's too late.

A fact Zhang knows only too well.

In 2006, Zhang and his team

chose a five-year-old male, Xiang Xiang,

to be the first ever captive-bred panda

to return to the wild.

They spent over three years preparing him...

years of training, hoping, and worrying.

Just one year into his freedom, tragedy struck.

Researchers found Xiang Xiang's lifeless body

lying in the snow.

He showed signs of having been attacked

by predators or other wild pandas.

For Zhang it was very painful,

like losing his own son.

Tao-Tao has spent months learning how to survive,

but it has all been in a safe fenced environment.

Today, the keepers' mission

is to teach him how to survive

in a world filled with leopards and other predators.

They use fresh droppings and urine from a zoo leopard

to give their dummy the authentic smell.

Using radio telemetry,

one of the team tries to locate Tao-Tao's mother.

Tao-Tao may be nearby.

The keepers have brought a recording of a leopard.

The experiment is a success.

It's now time for him to make

his historic journey into the wild.

Tao-Tao is sedated

for a final health check.

He is about to become

the most famous panda in China.

He gets a complete medical exam

to confirm he's fit for his big adventure.

His destination is the Li Tzu Ping Reserve,

50,000 acres of pristine bamboo forest.

The panda population here is dangerously low.

It's estimated that as few as 13 pandas survive here.

The hope is that Tao-Tao, strong and healthy,

will find a female panda

and introduce a new bloodline.

He could be the last chance of survival

for this tiny population.

Dignitaries and politicians

have come from all across China

to participate in his release.

Merry and her friends have to settle

for watching the event live on TV.

They have mixed emotions

watching Tao-Tao set free.

While releasing him

is vitally important,

Merry worries for his safety.

All his life, she has taken care of and protected him.

It's hard to let go.

The moment is emotional for Zhang, as well.

Though sad to see him go,

he knows he has to take this step.

This is the culmination

of years of work...

hope, wrapped up in one tiny panda.

A year since the release,

Zhang hasn't seen Tao-Tao.

No one has.

But his GPS collar shows he is alive and well,

roaming across the mountains.

Perhaps he has met other pandas.

And maybe he will father a baby of his own...

one who will roam in the wild...

who will truly be free...

finally home.