China has 422 captive giant pandas

BEIJING - China now has 422 giant pandas bred and living in captivity with a survival rate of about 88 percent, the State Forestry Administration (SFA) said Thursday.

In 2015, 43 cubs were born in captivity and 40 survived with 28 being twins, according to an SFA statement.

The country aims to increase the captive giant pandas population to 500 by 2020.

"The captive panda population enriches the gene pool, helping the species," said the statement.

A total of 1,864 giant pandas live in the wild in China. The country has 67 panda sanctuaries, covering 53.8 percent of their habitat and 66.8 percent of the wild population.h In the last five years, four giant pandas were successfully reintroduced into the wild. The SFA said the reintroduction will continue.