The Current Status of Bird Diversity in Yunnan Province

1IntroductionYunnanProvince,whichislocatedinsouthwestofChina(21?8'-29?8'N,97?1'-106?2'E),isgeographicallythemainpartofYunnan-GuizhouPlateau.Itstotalareaisabout383000squarekilometers.About94%ofthetotalareaaremountainousareas.Itslopesdownwardfromnorthwesttosoutheast.ThehighestpointisKageboPeakofMeliSnowMountain,atanelevationof6740m,inthenorthwestofYunnan.Thelowestpointis76.4mabovesealevelinYunjiang(RedRiver)outletofsoutheastofYunnan.YunnanProvinceiswithinthezoneofmonsoonclimateintropics…

The Current Status of Bird Diversity in Yunnan Province

Yunnan is the richest province in bird species in China.Seven hundred and ninety-two species of birds were recorded in Yunnan before 1994,accounted for 63.6% of the records in China.Among them,one hundred and twenty-seven species were very rare,two hundred and eighty-eight species were rare,two hundred and fourty-two species were common and thirty-five species were large in number.In China,Podargidae and Hemiprocnidae were only recorded in Yunnan,Trogonidae,Bucerotidae,Eurylaimidae,Pittidae,Campephagidae,Irenidae,Dicruridae,Timaliinae,Dicaeidae and Nectariniidae mainly distributed in Yunnan,and one hundred and twelve species were only recorded from Yunnan.One hundred and thirty-six species belonged to the nation's prior protected wildlife.Their status in Yunnan were:five species extinct,seven species endangered,five species vulnerable,ninety-eight species rare and twenty-one species common.Twenty-five species were listed in 1988 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals.Anser anser and A.indicus were the rovince's prior protected birds.Thirty nature reserves have played an important role in protecting birds and their habitats,especially Xishuangbanna,Gaoligongshan,Ailaoshan and Wuliangshan.The public education about the protection of birds and their habitats has been made universal since 1982.It is important to protect their habitats both inside and Outside nature reserves and recover of destroyed habitats.Illegal hunting and capturing must be prohibited,breeding of economic birds in captivity should be started,and the education concerning the protection of birds and their habitats must be continued.