BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE




hina is a vast country with an extremely varied topography and climate range. It has a correspondingly wide range of habitats and flora and fauna - from the Gobi Desert in the north to the lush tropical rainforests in the south.

With about one­tenth of the world's total number of species, China is regarded internationally as a country remarkably rich in biodiversity. This diversity includes:

Over 30,000 species of higher plants, of which 18,000 are endemic.
499 mammal species, accounting for 11 per cent of the world's total. Of these, 62 are endemic, making China the country with the eighth highest number of endemic mammal species in the world.
At least 1,186 bird species, 13 per cent of the world's total. China has 46 species of wild duck, or 28 per cent of the world's total of 166; and 8 crane species, which is more than half the world's total of 15.
More than 13,000 marine species.

However, as many as 350 species of plants, 40 mammal species, and 83 bird species are threatened. These include the black­necked crane (Grus nigricollis), crested ibis (Nipponia nippon), dugong (Dugong dugong), baiji or river dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer), Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus ferus), Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), black gibbon (Hylobates concolor), and the giant panda.




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Copyright 1996, The World Wide Fund For Nature