National Forestry and Grassland Administration: The number of giant pandas in captivity worldwide reaches 728

　　China News Service, January 25. The State Forestry and Grassland Administration held a regular press conference for the first quarter of 2024 on the 25th.

At the meeting, Zhang Yue, the second-level inspector of the Animal and Flora Department of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, introduced the status of giant panda protection and international cooperation in my country.

He said that in recent years, the structure of my country's captive giant panda population has improved, and genetic diversity has continued to increase.

According to the optimized breeding matching plan, 46 giant pandas will survive in 2023, and the number of giant pandas in captivity worldwide will reach 728.

　　Zhang Yue said that my country began artificial breeding of giant pandas in the 1960s. At the beginning of this century, it solved three major problems: difficulty in estrus, difficulty in mating and conception, and difficulty in survival of young pandas. The captive population of giant pandas has gradually expanded.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, my country has continuously improved the artificial breeding system of giant pandas with the China Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center and the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base as the main bodies, strengthened research and management of giant panda genetics, and implemented scientifically optimized pair breeding, which will promote The expansion of the captive population is organically combined with improving the population structure and improving genetic quality, effectively maintaining the continuous expansion of the captive population and the increasing optimization of the genetic structure.

　　Zhang Yue said that according to the optimized breeding matching plan, 46 giant pandas will survive in 2023, and the number of giant pandas in captivity in the world will reach 728.

The average relatedness value of captive populations gradually decreases, while genetic diversity continues to increase.

Scientific evaluation shows that the existing captive population of giant pandas can maintain 90% of their genetic diversity for up to 200 years, becoming a healthy, dynamic and sustainable population, laying a solid foundation for conservation research, science education, and release into the wild. .