China's State Forestry Administration confirmed in Beijing
Wednesday that the country currently has 217 pandas that have
been bred in captivity. Thirty-four panda cubs were born by
artificial insemination in 2006 and 30 of them survived, said
spokesperson Cao Qingyao, adding that both figures are records.
Twenty-nine of the surviving panda cubs were bred by zoologists
in Southwest China's Sichuan Province with 17 being born at the
Wolong Giant Panda Protection and Research Center and 12 at the
Chengdu Research Base. The other panda was bred at Chongqing
Zoo. Sources with the forestry administration said earlier that
more than 30 female pandas nationwide were inseminated in spring
including one at Beijing Zoo and another in Northwest China's
Shaanxi Province. A panda cub was born at Beijing Zoo but died
and an attempt in Shaanxi was not successful, according to the
sources. China has been breeding pandas through artificial
insemination for nearly 50 years. Experts estimate there are
about 1,600 pandas living i