A new location is being sought for China's best-known panda conservation and research center, officials have said.

Panda keeper He Changgui (front), and his colleagues at Wolong National Nature Reserve, mourn on Tuesday fro Mao Mao, a panda killed in the quake. [Agencies]

    Huang Jianhua, deputy head of the Wolong National Nature Reserve's post-disaster reconstruction team, said the center will comprise research and breeding facilities, as well as accommodation for these rare bears.

    Three criteria will be used to select the site: safety, climate and ecological carrying capacity, which includes how much water and bamboo there is available, he said.

    The site will remain within the Wolong nature reserve, however, which is deep in the hills north of Chengdu and has a humid climate that is favorable for bamboo, pandas' favorite food, Huang said.

    Disaster evaluation and reconstruction planning are currently under way, he said.

    The original site was ruled out for redevelopment due to fears of aftershocks that might bring secondary disasters, such as landslides, he said.

    Five workers from the Wolong reserve were killed in the May 12 quake, as was a 9-year-old female giant panda, Mao Mao. Fourteen of the 32 pens were destroyed.

    Mao Mao was found dead on Monday in her pen, which had been engulfed by a landslide. She was buried on Tues