Growing number of species being protected

An elephant undergoes a health check at the Asian Elephant Breeding and Rescue Center in Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture, Yunnan province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Technological aid

New technologies, adopted for captive-breeding research programs on a number of critically endangered species, and recent updates of the list of wild animals under priority State conservation have also played significant roles in the protection of biodiversity.

In addition to the successful attempts to raise the number of giant pandas, China has also marked a milestone in saving rare aquatic animals through captive-breeding programs.

They include the Yangtze finless porpoise, which was designated as "critically endangered" on the red list of threatened species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2013.

So far, three finless porpoises have been bred in captivity in China, according to Hao Yujiang, an expert with the Institute of Hydrobiology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

He said a 4-year-old female named Beibei was released into the wild in July.

The finless porpoise is widely believed to be an important indicator of the Yangtze's environmental health. However, its numbers have declined dramatically over recent decades due to habitat loss, overfishing and climate change.

In 2018, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said there were 1,012, far fewer than the giant panda.

According to the institute, the reserve's researchers will constantly monitor Beibei's condition.

"The release was an important step and will provide data and experience for the artificial breeding of the species, or even other species in need," Hao said.

Last month, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration and the ministry jointly released a new version of the List of Wild Animals under State Priority Conservation, which provided the first major update for 32 years.

The new list covers an additional 517 wild animals. It also reassigns some critically endangered wild animals to the top level of conservation, such as the finless porpoise and the Chinese pangolin-a mammal that has witnessed a dramatic population decline in recent decades due to poaching and is estimated to number just a few dozen in China.

"The new list came in desperate times. Species whose protection level has been upgraded will see strict supervision in terms of law enforcement, management and exploitation, while newly added animals will also gain better protection," said Wu Shibao, a zoology and ecology professor at South China Normal University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.