(This photo shows researchers and sixteen panda babies in the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center on Jan.1st 2006. Photo: Newsphoto)

Twenty-one giant pandas born in China's breeding centers and zoos in 2005 have survived, the largest annual increase since China reared the endangered mammal in captivity, the State Forestry Administration announced.

These newborns mainly live in Wolong and Chengdu in west China's Sichuan Province, northwest China's Shaanxi Province and the Beijing Zoo, the administration said.

Sixteen panda babies born in 11 births in the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center all survived, accounting for about 76 percent of the increase across the country in 2005, the administration said.

To date China has 183 giant pandas fed in captivity. Among them, 98 live in Wolong, 46 in the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding and Research Base.