The Wolong National Nature Reserve is a protected area located in Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China. It prepares and trains pandas to be released back into the wild. There are only about 1600 giant pandas that exist in the wild. By copying the conditions of their natural environment, the staff at the [China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda](http://www.panda.org.cn/english/) has been successful with teaching the pandas to survive on their own. Zhang Xiang became the first female panda to be released into the wild. She was released last November. Photographer Ami Vitale had access to the reserve and was able to capture these photographs.
