Pandas roaming in the wild will soon find themselves in a friendly habitat with plenty of bamboo and a favorable living environment if they accidentally wander into a special reserve in the mountainous region of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Known as the home of the giant panda, China today initiated construction of the "Chinese Panda Park" for the rare species in its largest panda reserve, the Wolong Panda Reserve in northwestern Sichuan.

The new reserve covers three square kilometers and is established to enlarge the pandas' living space, enhance their mating behavior, and help them survive in the wild.

Meanwhile, Chinese zoologists will conduct a series of scientific researches and practical programs on pandas in the park.

In 1992 China launched a ten-year project to protect the panda and its habitat, with plans to establish 14 nature reserves at the junctions of Sichuan, Gansu, and Shaanxi provinces, a 5,000-square- kilometer habitat with about 80 percent of the remaining 1,000 pandas living in the wild.

The Wolong Panda Reserve is home to more than 100 wild giant pandas, one-tenth of the country's total. At the same time, the reserve is breeding 46 pandas, 30 percent of all the pandas living in captivity.