Gong Zai, one of the six giant pandas allowed to fend for themselves in conservation park. Provided to China Daily

Six giant pandas will be allowed to fend for themselves in a conservation park in Dujiangyan, Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province.

"The six pandas, aged 2-4, were selected according to scientific and ecological principles," said Zhang Zhihe, director-general to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, at a news conference in Beijing.

"Age, health, sex and genetic background have been taken into account."

One of the pandas, Gong Zai, is the inspiration for Po, the dragon warrior in the Hollywood film Kung Fu Panda II. Of the other pandas, four are female.

"They are the first giant pandas released into the Dujiangyan Reintroduction Research Center," Zhang said. The center covers more than 2,100 mu (140 hectares).

"Pandas' chronic inability to live in the wild is the main reason the release of captive giant pandas has failed before," Zhang said.

"So when the six are settled we will step up research on their health, movement, foraging, environmental adaptability and other behavior in the wild. That will be done without affecting their normal development and living conditions."