34 pandas born in captivity in China last year

A mini-baby boom last year has pushed up the number of pandas bred in captivity in China to 217, state media said today.

Some 34 pandas were born by artificial insemination in 2006 and 30 survived - both record numbers for the endangered species, Cao Qingyao, a spokesman for the State Forestry Administration, was quoted as saying by the Xinhua News Agency.