Rare species thrive in China through enhanced biodiversity conservation

An increasing number of rare animals and plants have been more frequently spotted in China's vast territory, demonstrating the country's endeavor in reversing species loss and achieving harmony between mankind and nature.

According to surveys by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, the total population of wild giant pandas has increased from approximately 1,100 in the 1980s to nearly 1,900 today.

Known as the world's rarest primate, Hainan gibbons have been listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Numbering less than 10 in the 1980s, the Hainan gibbon population jumped to 37 so far.

Crested ibises, which originated from northwest China's Shaanxi Province and was initially discovered in the 1980s with only seven individuals, now boasts a population exceeding 10,000.

Asian elephants, which numbered just over 150 individuals in the 1990s, have surpassed 300 individuals in the present.

Tibetan antelope, also known as "Chiru," has experienced a remarkable recovery from around 60,000 to 70,000 individuals in the late 1990s to over 300,000 individuals now.

Cycas panzhihuaensis, an endangered wild plant species, has seen its population in southwest China's Panzhihua City rise from 234,000 plants in the 1980s and 1990s to the current 385,000.

China has reintroduced 206 endangered plant species to the wild. For instance, the population of pachylarnax sinica, a critically endangered species of tree with majestic tree trunk and canopy has expanded from six to over 15,000 plants. Similarly, the Baishanzu fir, a first-class state protected wild plant, which previously were only three in the wild, now thrives with over 4,000 plants.

(Cover image via CFP)