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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