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The number of giant pandas in captivity across China has risen to 183, up by 22 from the national survey result announced three and a half years ago, said Zhao Xuemin, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration.

In 2005 alone, 18 panda cubs were born in captivity, Zhao said at a seminar on the protection of pandas at Qinling Mountain Range held in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Zhao attributed the rapid increase in panda numbers to breakthroughs in artificial reproduction techniques for this rare species.

Chinese researchers have solved some key issues concerning panda procreation including oestrum and mating concerns.

China launched a special project for the protection of giant pandas and their natural habitats in the early 1990s. To date, four centers for panda reproduction have been set up, with encouraging results in panda protection.

At the well-known China Giant Panda Protection Center at Wolong, southwest China's Sichuan Province, for instance, researchers have achieved a 100 percent survival rate for panda cubs over six consecutive years.

55 nature reserves have been built, plus a dozen protective connecting corridors. The total land area of their natural habitats has increased from 1.4 million hectares in the early 1990s to 2.3 million hectares today.

"These efforts have brought more than 70 percent of the giant pandas living in the wild under effective protection," Zhao said.

The previous national survey on giant pandas, carried out at the end of 2002, showed that the number of pandas in pens was 161. 22 panda cubs were born and raised in less than four years.

Giant pandas are said to have existed since the time when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and are considered China's "national treasure".

There are 1,596 giant pandas in the world, most of which can be found in the mountains of China's western provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu.
Zhao added that more pandas raised in captivity would be released to help increase numbers living in the wild.

On April 28, Xiangxiang, a five-year-old giant panda raised by humans at Wolong was set free. 

Zhao, describing the event as a success, said that data collected from a tracking device embedded in Xiangxiang's collar proves that the animal has made contact with wild pandas.

(Xinhua News Agency June 12, 2006)