Two giant pandas, a male and a female, will be released into the wild later this month.

The pair, Ba Xi and Ying Xue, received two years of “survival training” at the Wolong Nature Reserve in southwest China’s Sichuan province.

It took three days to send the vigilant pair to a base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Sichuan.

The pair will receive thorough health examinations before they are released into the wild later this month under a program aimed at helping rebuild the wild panda population.