A group of panda caretakers in China have dressed up like the animals to make back-to-nature training more authentic for three cubs.

Staff members dressed up in panda costumes to undertake physical examinations on three giant panda cubs at Hetaoping field training base in Wolong, a major habitat for the animal in China’s Sichuan Province, local media reported.

Three panda babies born in 2015, including Xinnier, who is pictured with the caretakers, took part in the training.

• Woman woken by exotic animal caressing her face
• Giant, invisible gas cloud heading for Milky Way
• The 15 gadgets that will improve your life in 2016

The pandas are the sixth group to be put through the training since the program launched in 2005, the People’s Daily Online reports.

The program was designed to introduce artificially bred giant pandas to the wild after two years of training and preparation.

The three cubs are carefully selected from all cubs born in 2015 at the centre and will be gradually re-introduced to living in a natural environment.