China's 'aquatic pandas' released into Yangtze

Program designed to save endangered fish, help restore famous river's ecological system

More than 2,000 Chinese sturgeon, a protected and precious species of fish, have been released into waters at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in Yichang, Hubei province, to improve the river's ecological system.

The endangered Chinese sturgeon are often called "aquatic pandas", because they are considered a living fossil whose origin is believed to date back millions of years to prehistoric times and the age of dinosaurs.