China releases captive pandas to boost wild population

By the end of last year, China was home to 728 captive pandas and 1,900 wild pandas.

The count indicates that the captive panda population is now self-sustaining.

China's fourth panda census, released in 2015, showed that 22 of the 33 groups of wild pandas found in the census faced the danger of extinction.

Releasing captive pandas is essential for growing the wild panda population, said Zhang Hemin, chief expert of the research center.