Tag: wildlife photography

She went boldly where no one has gone before

Posted on by animaldialogue in Conservation, News, Stories

In the wildlife conservation community of Jiangxi Province, China, Huang Xiaofeng has a reputation of a “living dictionary”. As the director of the Institute of Wildlife Conservation of the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Forestry, Huang has been dedicating herself to Jiangxi’s wildlife for 22 years. What’s more, she has also been applying her research results into agriculture to help local farmers overcome poverty.

“Jiangxi is a province with a huge forest coverage rate. It is rich in wildlife resources, but it falls behind the frontier research of wildlife conservation and nature reserves. I wanted to change this situation.” In 1997, Huang graduated from the Northeast Forestry University. Yearning the mountain range and the lush nature she revered since childhood, she gave up the opportunity to work for the National Department of Forestry and returned to her hometown, Jiangxi.

Working in the field of wildlife research, scientists often have to go deep into the mountains and befriend snakes, birds, and all other kinds of animals. Danger is always a part of the job. To obtain research data, Huang once traveled within the mountains for several months. To find animals, one must take the path that the animals have taken. Most of the time, she walks in the depths of the mountains where no trails can traverse.

Huang admitted that her line of work was not without challenges. However, once a new species or a rare species was discovered, the sense of accomplishment would instantly make one forget the pains. She never gave up. In 2005, Huang pioneered the province’s only scientific research institute specializing in wildlife conservation.

Chinese merganser @nationalgeographic

At the end of 2007, after learning that the Chinese merganser was spotted in Longhushan, she instantly jumped on the train, took the camera, the telescope, dry food, and the kettle and headed to the forest area. The Chinese merganser is very vigilant and difficult to observe at a close range. To record its activities in detail, Huang had to take cover on the riverbank in advance and watch the bird with a telescope for several hours at a time.

Huang also traveled all over the country to provide farmers with technical support. She participated in the development of various innovative animal and agroforestry production systems with applications of online platforms. The results of her research have been widely used in various regions, including Jiangxi, Hunan, and Hubei, helping numerous farmers in poverty gain economic growth.

All information comes from  http://jiangxi.jxnews.com.cn/

Translated by Dule

Edited by Andrea Jia and Riley Peng @ Animal Dialogue

Extremely rare albino panda found in Sichuan, China

Posted on by animaldialogue in Conservation, News

A super rare albino panda was spotted in the Sichuan Wolong National Nature Reserve. This panda’s white hair, white claws, and red eyes had us wondering, did it forget to wear its natural black vest and smoky eye makeup? Or did it have such an excellent night’s sleep that it lost the signature dark circles around the eyes?

A wild infrared trigger camera captured the albino panda passing through the lush forest at an altitude of 2,000 meters above sea level. The picture clearly shows the unique morphological characteristics of this giant panda.

Based on these external features on the photo, experts concluded that the panda is an albino individual. Judging from the size, this is a sub-adult or young panda, about 1 to 2 years old.

According to Li Sheng, member of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Bear Specialist Group and researcher at the Peking University School of Life Sciences, the phenomenon of “albinism” is found in various groups of vertebrate animals, but they are rare and usually due to genetic mutations. The bodies of albino individuals do not synthesize melanin, a dark pigment, so they appear white, yellowish white or pale yellow.

Missing pigments means that the animal is more likely to be found in the environment, and their body is more sensitive to direct sunlight. However, a single “albinism” mutation usually has no significant effect on the animal’s physical structure, activity, or reproduction.

The panda photographed by Wolong showed that there was an “albinism” gene in the giant panda population in Wolong. From the photo, experts confirmed that the individual is physically healthy with a steady gait, evidence that the mutation may not have affected the daily life of this panda.

The “albinism” mutation is a recessive gene that can be inherited. Each animal has two sets of genes from both parents. Only when the gene from both the parent and the mother are mutated, the individual will develop into an albino. Based on the current data, it is not yet possible to judge the gender of this individual.

When the albino panda and healthy wild individuals (the ordinary “black and white” pandas) that do not carry the mutated gene successfully produce offspring, the first generation of panda babies will still appear black and white, but they will carry an “albinism” gene.

A normal black and white panda might be carrying the recessive albinism gene.

When two individuals carrying the mutated gene reproduce, it is possible that both of the inherited genes may be mutated to produce an albino individual.

Whether the albino mutant gene will be further transmitted around the giant panda population of Wolong will also need to be observed through continuous field monitoring in the protected area.

To understand the composition and habitat utilization of the diverse species in the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan, the Administration launched the monitoring and research work in 2018. In the various ecosystems of the protected area, scientists selected seven sample plots of 20 square kilometers, respectively. An infrared trigger camera was set up to monitor the distribution and dynamic changes of wild animals in each area.

This photo of the albino giant panda comes from one of the monitoring areas.

All information comes from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/

Translated by Andrea Jia

Edited by Andrea Jia and Riley Peng @ Animal Dialogue

Protect endangered species at all costs: Nanjing modifies bridge design to make way for finless porpoises

Posted on by animaldialogue in Conservation, News

Nanjing has specially revised the design of a bridge to give way to the finless porpoises in the Yangtze River. The Yangtze finless porpoise is listed as “critically endangered” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Also known as the “river pig”, the Yangtze finless porpoises are small mammals that may live up to 20 years.

In the upper reaches of the Nanjing section of the Yangtze River, a bridge has been planned to connect two districts of the city across the river.

At first, the bridge was designed to be a three-tower suspension bridge. The program aimed to minimize the impact on the finless porpoise, so only one tower was set up in the river. However, this design was eventually denied.

“To minimize the impact on the finless porpoise, we have adjusted the plan again with the design unit,” said Wei Chen, an engineer at the Nanjing Public Construction Center.

According to the adjusted design, the three-tower suspension bridge was changed to have two towers which would be placed on two islands in the river respectively. In other words, there would be no bridge tower in the middle of the river, which may affect the activity and habitat of the finless porpoise.

At the same time, the bridge line was moved from the edge of the core area of ​​the Nanjing Yangtze Finless Porpoise Provincial Nature Reserve to the buffer zone outside.

Above: the three-tower design
Below: the modified two-tower design

After the revision, as the three towers become double towers, the span increases, and thus the corresponding investment amount and technical requirements would also increase.

The Nanjing Ministry of Ecosystem and Environment commented that scientific planning would yield the highest benefit. Indeed, it is difficult and costly for the modified bridge design plan to make way for the finless porpoise. Nevertheless, if any planning mistakes hinder the recovery of the finless porpoise population, a higher cost may be necessary to remedy the problems. At present, there are only more than a thousand finless porpoises in the Yangtze River, and their “critically endangered” status has not changed.

In the opinion of the Yangtze River Protection Volunteer and the president of the Yangzhou City Yangtze River Protection Association, Chen Yilin, giving finless porpoises precedence over the bridge is not only a sign of prioritizing ecological conservation over commercial development but also the only way for people to live in harmony with nature. “The Yangtze River has always been the common home of human and finless porpoise,” said Chen.

The Yangtze finless porpoise first became classified as an independent species in 2018.

Since 2014, Nanjing has demolished and relocated all the production piers of between the city’s second and third bridges across the Yangtze River. The city also released more than 300 million fish hatchlings to increase the food source of the finless porpoise. Meanwhile, fishing in the river section below the Nanjing Third Yangtze Bridge in the protected area was banned entirely.

At present, it is the breeding season of the finless porpoise. Since March, many citizens have observed pairs of finless porpoises in the waters of the Nanjing section of Yangtze River.

Photos and information come from 

http://www.sohu.com/

https://www.cenews.com.cn/

http://news.sciencenet.cn/

Translated by Andrea Jia

Edited by Andrea Jia and Riley Peng @ Animal Dialogue

Showcasing wildlife of China: photography exhibition opens in St. Petersburg

Posted on by animaldialogue in Conservation, News

On April 16, the exhibition center of the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg hosted a Chinese wildlife photo exhibit named “Nature Image China”, a second show after the first exhibit in Moscow. This exhibit aroused the Russian public’s interest in Chinese wild animals, as well as China’s recent achievements in wildlife conservation.

Mrs. Tamara, the Russian director of the exhibition, said at the opening ceremony, “Nowadays, the only way to address the issue of wildlife protection is to cooperate with the neighbor country. This is why we think it is vital to showcase the activities of the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) and the best works of Chinese photographers. Though this exhibit, visitors can get to know China—a lush and natural land full of wonder, they can know the life of the nation’s rarest wild animals, and learn about the scientific research and conservation work on the wild animals in China.”

Many Russian media reported the opening ceremony. The CWCA’s mission is to protect rare animals such as panda, golden monkey, South China tiger, Amur tiger, Crested Ibis and Baiji, most of which are close to extinction.

The above are some highlights from the show.
From: https://rosphoto.org/

The CWCA regularly invites famous photographers both from China and aboard to take photos of the ecosystem and organisms in China. The images will be displayed with the title of “Nature Image China” and added to the CWCA’s other project, the China Natural Image Library.

Organized by the committee of the “Primitive Russia” Festival and the CWCA, this exhibition shows the works of 49 photographers from China and other countries. The exhibit is on view from April 16 to May 28.

All information comes from  http://www.cwca.org.cn/

Translated by Henyu Du

Edited by Andrea Jia and Riley Peng @ Animal Dialogue