The national center for giant panda conservation and research was inaugurated in Chengdu City of southwest China's Sichuan Province on Friday.
By integrating local-level resources, the national center aims to build a world-class platform for research and academic exchanges on the giant panda.
The center will focus on key technologies on two subjects: restoring the wild giant pandas' population and habitats, and preserving the captivated giant pandas' genetic diversity.
Giant pandas play in Daxiangling panda release base in Sichuan Province, southwest China. /CFP
A wild giant panda was filmed by an infrared camera in Mianyang of southwest China's Sichuan Province on March 28, 2023. /CFP
In 2021, China declared the status of wild giant pandas in China as downgraded from "endangered" to "vulnerable", but efforts continue in shutting down mines, restoring vegetation, banning illegal poaching to restore the animal's natural habitats.
The Giant Panda National Park, was established in 2021 with a planned area of 22,000 square km across Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.
(Cover image via CFP)