Two pandas chosen as a gift for Hong Kong on the 10th anniversary of its return to Chinese rule have been placed in one-month isolation to meet quarantine laws ahead of their journey, Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

The two pandas were selected from 15 candidates after rigorous physical examinations on their weight, height, teeth, heart rate, breath, body temperature, blood and organs.

Both pandas were born in August 2005 at the China Panda Protection and Research Centre in Wolong, in mountainous Sichuan province.

China presented the first pair of pandas, "An An", 28, and "Jia Jia,", 29, to Hong Kong in 1999.

The giant panda is one of the world's most endangered species and is found only in China. An estimated 1,000 live in southwestern Sichuan and in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces in the northwest.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to China on July 1, 1997.