Zhai, a keeper at the Ya'an panda breeding base of the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan, had taken care of the pair since their home was ravaged in the May 12 earthquake.

Although she was sad at the parting, Zhai said she was confident that her counterparts in Taiwan could take equally good care of them.

"The keepers from Taipei demonstrated their love for pandas during their stay in the Ya'an base," the 24-year-old said.

Wang Jin-zhi and You Xue-yin, two of the three keepers from Taipei Mucha Zoo, who arrived in Ya'an base on Oct 12, looked no different from their mainland colleagues with similar work clothes.

But when they spoke, their strong Taipei accents gave them away - and Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan would ignore them when called for food.

Wang and You then learned the Sichuan dialect; and more than a week later, You seemed to have convinced the panda pair that she was a "native".

But Huang Zhi, chief of the base's animal management division, told them pandas could adapt to their accent if they stayed longer together.

To let the pandas get to know them better, Wang and You got up at 5 am and stayed with the pair for nearly 10 hours a day, feeding them, cleaning their dens, giving them physical check-ups and playing with, them.

The pandas had six meals a day - of bamboo, steamed buns, apples and carrots. But the amount of food varied with each meal and You kept notes like Zhai.

"After Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan moved from Wolong to the Ya'an base on June 18, Zhai had written a diary of more than 400 pages recording the pair's daily droppings, how much and when they ate, when and how long they slept, and their health," You said.

"Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan are very cute. They responded to us several days after we got to the base. Yuan Yuan was always the first to run to me whenever I called them for food," You said.

Wang, who has experience raising black bears in Taiwan, would kneel on the floor and speak with the pandas when he fed them.

He would touch each with one hand and use the other to feed.

Observing Wang and You, Zhai can rest assured that the pandas are in good hands.