Foping Nature Reserve () in

Shaanxi Province Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), Ningx ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, is a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

and

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

situated in the

Qinling Mountains The Qinling () or Qin Mountains, formerly known as the Nanshan ("Southern Mountains"), are a major east–west mountain range in southern Shaanxi Province, China. The mountains mark the divide between the drainage basins of the Yangtze and Yellow ...

. The Nature Reserve covers and is under the leadership of the Ministry of Forestry. Foping Nature Reserve is girdled by other protected areas: It is bordered in the east by the Long-caoping Forest Farm; in the west it is flanked by the Changqing Nature Reserve; Zhouzhi Nature Reserve, the stronghold of the Golden Monkey, and Laoxiancheng Nature Reserve are situated to the north. The Foping Reserve covers of rugged mountain terrain and is home to a stable panda population. Elevations range from 1,080 to 2,094 m with warm summers and cold winters. 950–1,200 mm of rain falls mostly from July to September, with snow at higher elevations. Forested lands dominate the reserve with a mix of conifers and broadleaf deciduous trees.

History

The Foping Nature Reserve was set up in 1978 with a view to protecting the

giant panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes us ...

Roads

Roads end at the reserve edge to minimize human presence in the interior of the reserve.

Flora and fauna

Mammals found in the reserve include the

golden monkey The golden monkey (''Cercopithecus kandti'') is a species of Old World monkey found in the Virunga volcanic mountains of Central Africa, including four national parks: Mgahinga, in south-west Uganda; Volcanoes, in north-west Rwanda; and Vi ...

mainland serow The mainland serow (''Capricornis sumatraensis'') is a serow species native to the Himalayas, Southeast Asia and China. The mainland serow is related closely to the red serow, Himalayan serow, Sumatran serow, and the Chinese serow (''C. milneedw ...

Chinese goral The Chinese goral (''Naemorhedus griseus''), also known as the grey long-tailed goral or central Chinese goral, is a species of goral, a small goat-like ungulate, native to mountainous regions of Myanmar, China, India, Thailand, Vietnam, and poss ...

dwarf musk deer The dwarf musk deer or Chinese forest musk deer (''Moschus berezovskii'', ) is an artiodactyl native to southern and central China and northernmost Vietnam. The species name is after the collector Mikhail Mikhailovich Berezovsky. On June 14, 1 ...

Asiatic black bear The Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), also known as the Asiatic black bear, moon bear and white-chested bear, is a medium-sized bear species native to Asia that is largely adapted to an arboreal lifestyle. It lives in the Himalayas, sou ...

, and North-Chinese leopard. Also red and white giant flying squirrel lives in the reserve. Golden Snub-nosed Monkeys

Giant panda population

The Foping National Natural Reserve supported a relatively stable population of about 64 pandas from 1974 to 1993 where they avoided people and lived in areas with bamboo growing well.YONG Yange, ZHANG Jian, ZHANG Shanning. 1993. The distribution and number of the giant panda in the Foping Reservation. Acta Theriologica Sinica. 13:245-250.

References

External links