On New Year's Eve 2023, the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding is in a happy mood because 13 baby pandas, all about six months old, made a collective appearance to send out the most adorable New Year's wishes to panda fans around the world. The staff also announced that 15 giant pandas were successfully bred at the base in 2022.

In recent years, the panda base has insisted on eugenic breeding and strictly selected age-appropriate female giant pandas to participate in breeding, continuously improving the genetic structure of the population and maintaining good genetic diversity. At present, the number of giant pandas in captivity has grown to 237. By continuously introducing and training talents, and carrying out scientific and technological research, the base has increased the average annual growth rate of the captive giant panda population to 12.2 percent, contributing to the reproduction of the giant panda population.

Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding has carried out scientific research cooperation and exchange with 45 animal protection research institutions in 17 countries and regions. The Panda Base has established long-term international cooperative breeding programs for giant pandas with Japan, the United States, Spain and France, and successfully carried out cooperation and research in many fields such as giant panda breeding, animal behavior and conservation education, etc. A total of 15 giant pandas have been cooperatively bred, achieving the excellent result of the highest number of international giant panda cooperative breeding litters.

At the same time, through the continuous efforts of the research team, the Base has been able to overcome key technical problems in breeding, population genetic management and healthy feeding of giant pandas in captivity, enabling the population of giant pandas to grow rapidly. The United Nations Development Program has evaluated the Panda Base as having made an original and outstanding contribution to the establishment of a self-sustainable captive population of giant pandas.

(Video provided by Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding)

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