The endangered species of China may include any wildlife species designated for protection by the national government of

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 ...

or listed as endangered by international organizations such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). As one of the world's most

biodiverse Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem ('' ecosystem diversity'') ...

countries A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state (polity), state, nation, or other polity, political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, so ...

and its most populous, China is home to a significant number of wildlife species vulnerable to or in danger of local extinction due to the impact of human activity. Under the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Wildlife, the national and local governments are required to designate rare or threatened species for special protection under the law. The type of legal protection that a particular species in China enjoys may depend on the locality of administration. For example, the

Beijing Municipal Government } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

designates the

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

leopard cat The leopard cat (''Prionailurus bengalensis'') is a small wild cat native to continental South, Southeast, and East Asia. Since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as it is widely distributed although threatened by hab ...

and

masked palm civet The masked palm civet (''Paguma larvata''), also called the gem-faced civet, is a palm civet species native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List since 2008 as it occurs in many p ...

, which are found in the wilderness around the municipality, as local Class I protected species even though none are among the Class I or II protected species designated by the national government. China is a signatory country to the

CITES CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...

and the national government's protected species list generally follows the designation of endangered species by CITES, but also includes certain species that are rare in the country but quite common in other parts of the world so as not to be considered globally threatened (such as

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult mal ...

and

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

) or are vulnerable to economic exploitation thus require legal protection (such as

sable The sable (''Martes zibellina'') is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kaza ...

and

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

). The Chinese endangered species classifications are updated relatively infrequently, and a number of species deemed to be endangered by international bodies have not yet been so recognized in China. Many of the listed species are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the country, such as the

groove-toothed flying squirrel The groove-toothed flying squirrel or North Chinese flying squirrel (''Aeretes melanopterus'') is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Aeretes''. It is endemic to China, and occurs in Sichuan, Gansu, He ...

and the

Ili pika The Ili pika (''Ochotona iliensis'') is a species of mammal in the family Ochotonidae, endemic to northwest China. After its discovery in 1983, it was not documented again until 2002. Increased temperatures, likely from global warming, and incr ...

Designation

The species listed in this article are designated by one or more of the following authorities as endangered or threatened: # The List of Wildlife under Special State Protection as designated by the Chinese State Council pursuant to Article 9 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Wildlife # The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), in Appendix I of its catalogue includes "species threatened with extinction". # The

Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

compiled by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

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Accessed 2013-04-20

Endangered and protected animal species

Mammals

Birds

Reptiles

Amphibians

Fish

Actinopterygii, Ray-finned fish (Actinopterygii)

Chondrichthyes, Cartilaginous fish (
Chondrichthyes Chondrichthyes (; ) is a class that contains the cartilaginous fishes that have skeletons primarily composed of cartilage. They can be contrasted with the Osteichthyes or ''bony fishes'', which have skeletons primarily composed of bone tissue. ...
)

Lancelet The lancelets ( or ), also known as amphioxi (singular: amphioxus ), consist of some 30 to 35 species of "fish-like" benthic filter feeding chordates in the order Amphioxiformes. They are the modern representatives of the subphylum Cephalochorda ...

Endangered and protected plant species

Flora

Endangered and protected plant species, of the

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

and

. * ''

Abies beshanzuensis ''Abies beshanzuensis'' (Baishanzu fir, Baishan fir) is a species of fir (genus ''Abies'') in the family Pinaceae. It is endemism, endemic to Baishanzu, Mt. Baishanzu in southern Zhejiang province in eastern China, where it grows at altitude and ...

'' — Baishanzu fir, Baishan fir. * ''

Abies fabri ''Abies fabri'' (Faber's fir) is a conifer species in the family Pinaceae. It is endemic to Sichuan in western China, occurring on the sacred mountain of Emei Shan (from where it was first described) and westward to the Gongga Shan massif, growi ...

'' — Faber's fir * '' Abies fanjingshanensis'' * ''

Abies recurvata ''Abies recurvata'' is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae. It is found only in China. ''Abies recurvata'' is a distinct fir species usually recognized by the needles on its leaders mostly recurved or reflexed. It occurs in the drier, c ...

'' * '' Abies yuanbaoshanensis'' * ''

Abies ziyuanensis ''Abies ziyuanensis'' is a species of fir, a conifer in the family Pinaceae. It is only known from four locations in Guangxi and Hunan provinces in China. ''A. ziyuanensis'' is related to ''Abies beshanzuensis ''Abies beshanzuensis'' (Baisha ...

'' * '' Cupressus chengiana'' * '' Cupressus duclouxiana'' — Chinese cypress * '' Cupressus gigantea'' * '' Disanthus cercidifolius'' var. ''longipes'' * '' Fissistigma cupreonitens'' * '' Fissistigma tungfangense'' * ''

Magnolia delavayi ''Magnolia delavayi'' is a species of flowering plant in the genus ''Magnolia''. It is known by the common names of Chinese evergreen magnolia or Delavay's magnolia. It was named after Father Delavay, French Catholic missionary in China, who ...

'' — Chinese evergreen magnolia * '' Picea brachytyla'' * ''

Picea neoveitchii ''Picea neoveitchii'' () is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae. It is found only in China. It is threatened by habitat loss. ''Picea neoveitchii'' is an endemic spruce species of central China. Several scattered communities and indiv ...

'' * ''

Pinus dabeshanensis ''Pinus dabeshanensis'', Dabieshan white pine, is a species of pine found only in China. Some sources consider it as a synonym of Chinese white pine (''Pinus armandii''), which it closely resembles. The natural range of ''Pinus dabeshanensis'' ...

'' * ''

Pseudolarix amabilis ''Pseudolarix amabilis'' is a species of coniferous tree in the pine family Pinaceae. The species is commonly known as golden larch, but being more closely related to ''Keteleeria'', ''Abies'' and ''Cedrus'', is not a true larch (''Larix''). ''P ...

'' — golden larch

Notes

References

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