Only in the zoo of the South China tiger, 200 million years of living fossils in the water, China's 16 national treasures

After the Industrial Revolution, rapid economic development allowed humans as a whole to solve the problem of food and clothing. The dramatic increase in population forced humans to encroach on more natural resources, and the ensuing cost was more wildlife, which faced extinction or endangerment because of humans. According to scientific studies, the extinction of species has accelerated 100 to 1,000 times faster than natural selection in recent times, and a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports that humans have caused the extinction of at least 543 species of terrestrial vertebrates throughout the 20th century. And it predicts that nearly the same number of species are likely to be extinct in the next two decades.

China is a country with a large distribution of endangered animals. There are more than 120 species of endangered animals in China listed in the appendix of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) alone, 257 species listed in the List of National Key Wildlife Protection, and 400 species of birds, amphibian reptiles and fish listed in the Red Book of Endangered Animals in China. For now, most of the endangered wild animals have disappeared in the wild, they are forced to enter the delineated protected areas, are kept in captivity in zoos, and have lost their wild living environment.

Today, we'll take stock of what endangered wildlife is currently under strict protection in China.

Giant panda. The giant panda, also known as cat and bear, has the reputation of being the mount of Chi, an omnivorous animal that mainly feeds on bamboo, but also hunts small animals. Once a giant panda attacking livestock was widely reported, the giant panda is our national treasure that once faced extinction. Under the strong protection of the state, the population has now recovered and has been presented to various friendly countries for breeding as an ambassador of friendly exchange between countries. Today, giant pandas survive in wild individuals in Sichuan, Gansu, Shaanxi, and Tibet.

The protection of giant pandas has penetrated the hearts of people all over the country.

Crested Ibis. When the population was at its lowest, seven wild species were found in Shaanxi, and then began to protect it vigorously, and now the ibis protection and breeding centers have were established in three regions of the country, and the population has recovered to several thousand, with the only concern being that the population is too genetically homogeneous.

South China tiger. In the middle of the last century, tigers were hunted vigorously as a tiger problem. Soon, with the increase in population, the tiger's habitat was compressed, and at the same time, the tiger needed extremely large prey to survive, and the sharp decrease in the number of its prey also caused the extinction of the South China tiger in the wild. Nowadays, South China tigers are kept in captivity in wildlife parks, and there is no longer any possibility of survival in the wild. Another worry that the genes of the current South China tiger The other worry is that the genes of the South China tigers come from the original 6 tigers, and inbreeding is a serious problem.

Golden monkeys. The golden monkey, living in the mountains, is an extremely clean and docile monkey, able to endure the cold. Due to the expansion of the human habitat, the survival area of the golden monkey is now in danger of being divided, and the golden monkey cannot communicate between regions, leading to the reduction of the population, which is now endangered.

4Danling crane. National Grade, I protected animals, mainly in the Northeast, Jiangsu Yancheng, and other wetland areas for breeding, red head, white body, black neck, is a beautiful spirit, has the reputation of fairy cranes, traditionally loved by literati painters, common in the literary treasures of the past generations, now the number has recovered a lot, in Yancheng reserve, the most once recorded breeding population of more than 600.

Leopards. China was once widely distributed leopards, North China leopards, South China leopards, Northwest leopards, Taiwan clouded leopards, snow leopards, and so on, now in addition to the snow leopard still survives in the Tibetan plateau, the others have been extinct, and snow leopards are now facing a huge survival challenge, a large number of abandoned Tibetan mastiffs have become the snow leopard's arch enemy.

Tibetan antelope. The beautiful creatures of the Tibetan Plateau, whose fur has an extremely fine texture and is seen as soft gold, are poached in large numbers. In recent decades, the state has established nature reserves in areas such as Coco Cili, where the Tibetan antelope is closely protected, and now, the numbers have recovered a lot.

Plum deer. It is one of the first-class protected animals in China. Due to the expensive value of antlers, excessive hunting in history, and the destruction of forests and occupation of wildlife habitats by human beings, the wild population is now very small and highly endangered in China, with a total population of fewer than 1,000 animals. It is distributed in Anhui, Zhejiang and Jiangxi, Guangxi, northern Sichuan, and southern Gansu.

White-tailed sea eagle. It is a national-level protected animal, with wild ducks and gulls, and fish as food, in China is mostly a traveling bird, its survival trajectory throughout the world in many areas, its protection requires international cooperation, and the current protection work in China is relatively complete.

Chinese sand duck. IUCN Red List Endangered Species endangered species, distributed in Siberia, Korea, Japan, as well as the Chinese mainland in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Hebei, and south of the Yangtze River. It is an internationally migratory species. Breeding sites are in Siberia, northern Korea, and the Xiaoxingan Mountains in northeastern China. Overwintering sites are in coastal Jiangsu, Dongting Lake, Guizhou, and Pingtung, Taiwan in China.

Nautilus. It is distributed in the tropical sea area of the southwest Pacific Ocean, the Malay Archipelago, Taiwan Strait, the islands of the South China Sea, the Xisha Islands of China, and the southern part of Hainan Island. It lived on the earth more than 500 million years ago and was once used as a wine cup in ancient times, with Li Bai praising the nautilus wine cup in his poem. Today it is endangered.

Open the UC browser to see more wonderful pictures

Wild Yak. Once common in Tibet, Gansu, and Sichuan, Tibetans traditionally held the wild yak in awe. Later, due to the increase in the number of domesticated yaks, the destruction of the natural environment, and the increase in human activity areas, the wild yak is now only found on the Tibetan plateau.

Open the browser to see more wonderful pictures

Asian elephant. Once widely distributed in China, during the Three Kingdoms period, there were also Asian elephants in Henan Province, the prototype of the story of Cao Chong weighing the elephant is the Asian elephant, at that time, Asian elephants were distributed in the Central Plains and other areas, nowadays, only a small part of the border between Yunnan and Myanmar.

Open the UC browser to see more wonderful pictures

Antelope. It is one of the four national treasures of China and is distributed in Yunnan, the Hengduan Mountains, and the Qinling Mountains in northwest China. It is one of the four national treasures of China and is found in Yunnan, the Hengduan Mountains, and the Qinling Mountains in northwest China.

Open the UC browser to see more wonderful pictures

The Brown Moorhen. China's national chicken, is nearly half a meter long, and due to its huge size, few can adapt to the wild living environment, now Hancheng City in Shaanxi Province has established a nature reserve and breeding center, and the population has recovered to several thousand.

Open the UC browser to see more wonderful pictures

Baiji dolphin. A girl of the Yangtze River, the largest freshwater dolphin, unique to China, was declared functionally extinct in 2006 after a joint scientific study organized by six countries found no trace of it, making it the most unfortunate endangered species in China.

Some people say that natural selection, is the survival of the fittest this is not true, human beings have mastered technology, and control the fate of wildlife, and the extinction of species caused by human factors should not be considered as the survival of the fittest, in other words, there are strong and weak among humans, if there is no rule to protect, whether the strength is superior, the survival of the fittest? It is not possible, we should fully use the principle of fairness to treat the wildlife on earth, to protect them is to protect human beings themselves.

For more information, open UC to see