Panda project boosts the breed
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-06-12 09:16 The number of giant
pandas living in captivity across China rose by 22 to 183 over the past three
and a half years, according to a new state study.
Eighteen panda cubs were born last year alone, Zhao Xuemin, deputy director
of the State Forestry Administration, said yesterday at a seminar on panda
protection held in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
The official attributed the rapid birth rate increase in this rare species to
breakthroughs in artificial reproduction.
Chinese researchers have solved several key issues in panda propagation,
officials said.
China launched a special program to protect the giant pandas and their
natural habitats in the early 1990s. So far four centers for panda propagation
have been set up, with encouraging results.
At the renowned China Giant Panda Protection Center at Wolong in southwest
China's Sichuan Province, for instance, researchers have achieved a 100 percent
survival rate for panda cubs over the past six years.
China has built 55 nature reserves, plus a dozen protective corridors
connecting the reserves with pandas' natural habitats.
"The efforts have brought more than 70 percent of the giant pandas living in
the wild under effective protection," Zhao said.
Researchers calculate the world's giant panda population now totals 1,596,
most of which live in the mountains of China's western provinces, including
Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu.
The Chinese forestry official said more pandas raised in captivity will be
released to increase the number now living in the wild. Zhao said the April
release of Xiangxiang, a 5-year-old panda raised in captivity, has been a
success and that the animal has been in contact with other pandas.
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