Number of world's captive giant pandas nearly doubles over past decade

The population of captive giant pandas around the world has reached 673, nearly double that of 10 years ago, Xinhua News Agency reported on Oct. 12, 2022.

This remarkable increase is attributed to the rapid development of technologies related to the artificial breeding and protection of giant pandas as well as the efforts put into ecological conservation, pointed out Duan Zhaogang, director of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda.

Keepers feed giant pandas. (Photo courtesy of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda)

Over the past several decades, China has made great efforts to bring about breakthroughs in the breeding of giant pandas in captivity, and has realized relatively fast growth in the quantity and improvement in the quality of captive giant pandas, according to Duan.

While the total area of giant pandas’ habitats under protection in China has increased significantly, the number of wild giant pandas in the country has grown from 1,114 in the 1980s to 1,864, Duan noted.

As the "national team" in giant panda research and protection, the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda has taken the lead in setting technical standards for artificial insemination of giant pandas and built a platform for international and domestic cooperation and exchanges on giant panda conservation, boasting the largest scale and most extensive participation of its kind in the world.

So far, a total of 16 countries and regions have taken part in international cooperation via the platform, helping giant pandas overseas produce 21 cubs.

Over the past decade, the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda has established a package of technologies covering rewilding training, release, and monitoring of giant pandas, and has trained and released 10 captive giant pandas into the wild, of which nine have survived.