A panda cub in semi-wild area in Wenchuan county, on Jan 27. [Photo/CFP]

Releasing captive pandas into the wild is aimed at enlarging the wild giant panda population and preventing extinction of the endangered species. China's fourth panda census, released last year, found only 1,864 wild pandas in the world.

In the past decade, the center has released six panda cubs into the wild.

The first was Xiang Xiang, born in 2001. The male panda was released in 2006, but he was found dead in 2007. Researchers suspected he had taken refuge in a tree after fighting with wild pandas but had fallen.