During the past summer season, photos of snow leopards were taken by five different special cameras in Pingwu, Sichuan province, surprising many wildlife scientists. This shows that the living area of snow leopards in China's southwestern mountains has become larger.
Pingwu, about 4200 meters above the sea level, is famous for being home to a large number of wild pandas. The fourth national survey of pandas in 2015 found that there were 1,864wild pandas in China, including 335 in Pingwu. As a result, over half of Pingwu's land area has become part of the Panda National Park, which has a planned area of 22,000 square kilometers across Sichuan, Shanxi and Gansu provinces. It is among five national parks China named in October, 2021.
Through shutting down mines (煤矿), planting more trees and other measures, protection efforts in the park have not only made pandas less endangered, but also are offering safety and protection for other rare species (珍借物种). About 87% of the Panda National Park lies in Sichuan. It's the home of more than 8,000 species of animals and plants.
The province has used special cameras and forest protectors as a closely connected protection system. Thousands of forest protectors have been working year-round on more than 900 routes. Over the past four years, they have met rare animals for about 1,600 times. In Pingwu alone, more than 4,100 species of plants and 1,900 species of animals have benefited from the protection of pandas. For example, the number of takin, a rare animal, has increased by 10% over the past ten years. Meanwhile, the protection of pandas causes the development of human society, too.
