Beverleg Douglass, an Australian art teacher, visited the 12 panda babies born this year in the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Sichuan province on Monday. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

It is one small step for the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Sichuan province, but one giant leap for mankind's protection of pandas as the base is home to 108 pandas.

"This is the most lucky day for me since I have seen 12 panda cubs," said Beverleg Douglass on Monday.

Beverleg, 52, is an art teacher from Sydney, Australia. She said she had liked panda since she was a child.

"Now I have finally seen the real pandas," Beverleg who liked bringing a toy panda said with a smile on her face.

The day when Beverleg and her friend Leonaro Martin, a technical analyst in London, had a "date" with pandas was unusual, for the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding announced that it is home to 108.

With only six pandas rescued from the wild in 1987, the base boasts the world's largest artificially bred panda population, according to base chief Zhang Zhihe.