Yanling Included as International Demonstration County on Biodiversity

　　Recently, Yanling County of Zhuzhou City was listed as the International Demonstration County on Biodiversity by the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences and the Norwegian Environment Agency. Other four counties and one autonomous banner in China included were Taishun County of Zhejiang Province, Jingdong County of Yunnan Province, Ewenki?Autonomous Banner of Inner Mongolia, and Minqin County of Gansu Province.

　　With excellent ecological environment, Yanling has a forest coverage rate of 83.55% topping Hunan and the largest well-preserved primeval forest in south China as wide as 100,000 mu (about 6,666.7 hectares). It is home to a wide range of flora and fauna. Taoyuandong National Nature Reserve is known as “natural species gene bank of plants and animals” with a 10,000-mu primeval secondary forest and a complete ecosystem. It is a habitat for 2,019 types of vascular plants belonging to 896 categories of 215 families, and 74 national key protected wild plants such as southern Chinese yew, bretscheidera sinensis, and water shield. The reserve is also inhabited by 212 species of terrestrial vertebrates, and 29 categories of national key protected wild animals like clouded leopard, leopard, and Tragopan caboti.

　　Translator: Li Xuan

　　Chinese source: hn.rednet.cn