Report: 30 Pandas Born in China in 2006 – AP A mini-baby boom
last year has pushed up the number of pandas bred in captivity
in China to 217, state media said Wednesday. Some 34 pandas were
born by artificial insemination in 2006 and 30 survived — both
record numbers for the endangered species, Cao Qingyao, a
spokesman for the State Forestry Administration, was quoted as
saying by the Xinhua News Agency. …China has been raising pandas
through artificial insemination for nearly 50 years, mostly at
two research facilities in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
In 2006, 17 cubs were born at the Wolong Giant Panda Protection
and Research Center and 12 at the Chengdu Research Base. The
other panda was bred at the zoo in the southwestern city of
Chongqing. [Full Text]