China opens another panda house

A breeding and study center for giant pandas opened Saturday in northeast China, the first in the region for the endangered mammals. The Dalian Panda House in Liaoning province is home to two females, Fei Yun and Cai Zhen, and a male, Hu, China's official Xinhua news agency reported. The house is located in the Dalian Forest Zoo. The pandas were transferred to Dalian from the Woolong Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Sichuan province. China has created 64 panda reserves. Scientists estimate 1,600 pandas remain in the wild while there are 300 in captivity in China and other countries. The bears breed slowly and have lost much of their habitat in the bamboo forests of western China.