China has removed giant pandas from its list of endangered species after the number living in the wild increased.
There are now 1,800 pandas living in the wild, according to Beijing, meaning the species is classified as 'vulnerable' instead of 'endangered'.
Pandas were first listed as 'endangered' in 1990, but more than 30 years of conservation work has seen their numbers swell.
In the last decade alone, the number of pandas living wild in China has increased by almost 20 per cent.
Giant pandas are no longer classified as endangered, according to Chinese conservationists, with 1,800 now living in the wild (file image)
Beijing has put the success down to efforts to increase their habitat by replanting and repopulating bamboo forests.
Bamboo makes up almost all of a panda's diet, with an adult needing to consume up to 45lbs of bamboo stems every day.
Breeding programmes within zoos - with offspring used to top up wild populations - have also helped to increase the population.
China's move comes five years after the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which runs the global 'red list' of threatened species, also removed giant pandas from its endangered list.
Beijing disagreed with the move at the time, saying it believed the threat to wild pandas was still substantial enough to warrant the endangered classification.
Reclassifying the panda within China 'reflects their improved living conditions and China's efforts in keeping their habitats integrated', said conservationist Cui Shuhong during a press conference.
Pandas are one
