2 China pandas loaned to Australia zoo

China has selected a pair of giant pandas _ Wangwang and Funi _ to send to the Adelaide Zoo, an official said Wednesday, in a goodwill gesture announced during a recent visit to Australia by President Hu Jintao.

Cao Qingyao, a spokesman for the State Forestry Administration that oversees China's panda breeding program, said the male bear, Wangwang, is 2 years old and the female, Funi, is 1 year old.

They will come from the Wolong-based China Research Center for Protecting Giant Panda in Southwest China's Sichuan province, and can be transported as soon as the facilities at Adelaide Zoo, in South Australia state, are ready for them, Cao said.

"They are very cute and lovely," he said.

Cao did not say how long the pandas would be kept by Australia. A pair of pandas sent to Spain on Saturday were to stay there for 10 years.

The giant panda is unique to China and serves as an unofficial national mascot, imbuing such loans with political overtones. China regularly sends the animals abroad as a sign of warm diplomatic relations or to mark breakthroughs in ties.

China uses payments from zoos that host loaned pandas to fund extensive research and breeding programs. Under such loan agreements, any panda cubs born overseas to lent animals remain China's property.

The panda is one of the world's rarest animals, with about 1,590 living in the wild in China, mostly in the western provinces of Sichuan and Shaanxi. Another 210 have been bred in captivity.