Six people who won a global competition for panda keepers in southwest China's Sichuan Province last month have set off to search for traces of the bear in the wild in the final week as "pambassadors."

The six stood out from 12 candidates in the final run on Sept. 29 and won the opportunity to spend a month working as panda keepers in the provincial capital Chengdu.

After three weeks of panda care at the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding, they arrived at Hongkou Nature Reserve in neighboring Dujiangyan City on Monday for five days of field survey.

On Tuesday, they received wild training that would help them stay safe and eventually carry out research in the wilderness about 2,300 meters above sea level, said Shang Tao, a researcher with the nature reserve.

In the next four days, they are expected to assess the availability of bamboo -- giant pandas' staple food -- identify the presence of pandas through their footprints and droppings, and collect DNA samples.

Six zoologists with the nature reserve would accompany the pambassadors throughout their field trip, said Shang.

He said the reserve was home to about 10 wild pandas. Several captive-bred pandas would be released into the reserve early next year in a scheme to help them adapt to the wild.

The six pambassadors, four women and two men, represent five countries: China, the United States, France, Sweden and Japan.

Their month-long job as pambassadors is scheduled to end on Oct. 30.

They are expected to share their experiences back home, and do publicity work on wild life preservation.

The pambassadors project was launched by the Chengdu research base in collaboration with the World Wide Fund for Nature.

In the first round of the competition, netizens and wildlife conservation experts selected 12 of the 62,000 applicants.

Before the final run, the finalists received a week of training in Chengdu and learned to clean panda enclosures, prepare bamboo, fruit and corn bread, and build outdoor climbing facilities.

"This is a fantastic job, I really want to go on with it," said pambassador Ashley Robertson of the United States. "I hope I can stay here as a volunteer in the future."

(Xinhua News Agency October 26, 2010)