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The pair of pandas selected for Hong Kong play at the China Panda Protection and Research Center in Wolong, Sichuan Province.Both pandas were born there in August 2005. The male young panda presently identified as No. 606 weighs 60 kilograms and the female, No. 610, 61 kilograms.
A pair of young pandas are getting the kid-gloved treatment as they travel Thursday from Sichuan Province to their new home in Hong Kong where their new names will be revealed when they arrive.
They're traveling in specially designed cages and flying on a specially equipped aircraft with an entourage of five handlers.
The panda couple are gifts to Hong Kong which is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its return to the motherland.
A truck carrying the couple departed in rainy weather from the China Panda Protection and Research Center in Wolong at around 8:00 a.m. Thursday for the 100 km drive to the airport in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province.
The truck arrived at the Chengdu airport at 11:40 a.m.
The pandas are traveling in cages that were made in Hong Kong to keep them comfortable and relaxed during their 10-hour journey.Trainers started ten days ago to get the pandas used to the cages.
"The cubs are in a good shape," said Li Wei, a publicity official of the Wolong Center,"I believe the 10-hour journey won'tbe a big problem for them."
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