Beside the pandas.Beside the Pandas In the remote mountains of west-central China (and in afew Western zoos), the giant panda precariously holds its own. This year is particularly perilous for this magical beast because arrow bamboo and Chinese pink bamboo, the two staples of the panda diet, have begun their fifty-year cyclical flowering, after which the plants die and regenerate from seed. At the elaborate Wolong Panda Center, which has a breeding farm and laboratories for studying the animals' life cycle, there has been intense activity to ensure the pandas' survival. Two decades ago, during the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, more than a hudred pandas died during a similar bamboo flowering, simply because there was lack of interest in their preservation. But pandas are only part of the country's new-found enthusiasm for preserving wildlife. China has also turned its attention to other threatened species: the black-necked crane The Black-necked Crane, Grus nigricollis also known as Tibetan Crane is a large bird and medium-sized crane, up to 139 cm (55 in) long, 235 cm (7.8 ft) wingspan and 5.5 kg (12 lbs). , the beaked White Flag dolphin, the Yangtze River Yangtze River Chinese Chang Jiang or Ch'ang Chiang River, China. Rising in the Tanggula Mountains in west-central China, it flows southeast before turning northeast and then generally east across south-central and east-central China to the East China alligator alligator, large aquatic reptile of the genus Alligator, in the same order as the crocodile. There are two species—a large type found in the S United States and a small type found in E China. Alligators differ from crocodiles in several ways. , two species of tiger, the black gibbon gibbon, small ape, genus Hyloblates, found in the forests of SE Asia. The gibbons, including the siamang, are known as the small, or lesser, apes; they are the most highly adapted of the apes to arboreal life. of Hainan Island, and the azure-winged magpie The Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopica cyana) is a bird in the crow family. It is 31-35 cm long and similar in overall shape to the European Magpie (Pica pica) but is more slender with proportionately smaller legs and bill. . |
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