13 Panda cubs born in 2008 at the Chengdu Research Centre will go on public display for the first time during the 2009 Spring Festival.

They have been kept in special nurseries since they have been born but it is now time for them to start leaving their mums and live lives of their own.

Panda cubs in Chinese research centres are removed much earlier than in the wild or in zoos outside of China, this is to promote the mothers to have another cub sooner than they would then normally. As the goal is to get as many pandas in captivity to a sustainable number as quickly as possible to ensure the future of the panda. They need to do this without capturing any more wild ones where they are better off.