Foping Nature Reserve () in

Shaanxi Province Shaanxi is a province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to the west. Shaanxi ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, 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, funga, or features of geologic ...

and

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

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 Ye ...

. 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 panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white animal coat, coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. ...

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 mitis kandti'') is a subspecies of the blue monkey. It is an Old World monkey found in the Virunga volcanic mountains of Central Africa, including four national parks: Mgahinga, in south-west Uganda; Volcan ...

, mainland serow,

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 pos ...

, dwarf musk deer,

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 is distributed from southeast ...

, 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