Giant panda Xiang Xiang receives a final physical checkup at the Wolong Giant Panda Protection and Research Center, SW. Sichuang Province, on April 27, 2006. The five-year-old panda was bred in captivity and will be released into the wilds around the center on Friday. [Xinhua]

Experts from the China giant panda protection research center, located in Wolong, southwestern Sichuan Province, performed Xiangxiang's last physical checkup, taking his blood pressure and giving him a number of inoculations. The experts have declared the bear, who wieghs 80 kilograms and measures 1.1 meters, to be very strong and healthy.

Tang Chunxiang, a senior vet at the center, said they also fitted Xiangxiang with a collar containing a satellite positioning device and a wireless tracking monitor.

Born at the center in August, 2001, Xiangxiang, whose mother was artificially inseminated, has spent the last three years in a 200,000-square-meter wildness training compound.

Zhang Hemin, director of the center, said Xiangxiang is now able to, on his own, select food, mark his territory and fend off intruders.

He said the center picked late April to release Xiangxiang into the wilds around the center because that's when his favorite food, bamboo shoots, are emerging, making it easier for him to survive.

Currently, there are about 1,590 wild giant pandas in the world and 180 in captivity.