# Twenty-five giant panda cubs in China made their first public appearance as part of a celebration for the upcoming Chinese New Year on 29 January. The cubs are from the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda, and the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding respectively. Given the dangerously low numbers and low birth rate of giant pandas in the wild, captive breeding programmes are essential to sustain the population. The number of giant pandas have grown from one-thousand-100 in the 1980s to nearly one-thousand-900 at present.
Panda cubs celebrate Chinese New Year