China is building a giant panda reserve spanning three provinces as part of efforts to boost the population of the endangered animals and help them mingle.

The reserve will cover 27,000 square kilometers, spanning Gansu, Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces where giant pandas are mainly distributed.

The park will have a core area, protecting 66.8 percent of pandas that live in the wild in 67 current reserves across the country. According to a 2015 survey, there were 1,864 wild pandas in the country, while habitats covered 2.58 million hectares in 2013.

Thanks to China's efforts to protect the endangered animals, the number of wild pandas has continued to grow steadily and their habitats have kept expanding in recent years.