A total of 48 captive giant pandas were born this year and 45 are alive, bringing the total number of captive pandas worldwide to 548, said Li Chunliang, deputy director of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

Li made the remarks during the International Conference for the Giant Panda Conservation and Breeding and 2018 Annual Conference of the Chinese Committee of Giant Panda Breeding Techniques held in Chengdu, capital city of Southwest China’s Sichuan province, on Nov 8.

Among the 45 newborn cubs this year, 31 belong to the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, 11 to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, and three to the Beijing Zoo, he said.

Hosted by his administration and the provincial governments of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu, the conferences have drawn panda experts from home and abroad to compare notes on the protection and breeding of pandas, disease prevention and control, returning pandas back to nature as well as the protection of panda companion animals.