Twelve newborn panda babies, born this year, make a debut in the Chengdu Giant Panda Research and Breeding Base on Monday, Sept. 26 2011. The base is now home to 108 pandas.

"Today our captive population has increased to 108 individuals from that founding population of only six in 1987 thanks to the work of several generations of experts." Zhang Zhihe, the director of the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Centre said.

Over the past years the research centre has been supporting and developing cooperative research projects into baby panda breeding with a number of other countries including Japan, the US and Spain. [Chinanews.com]