HAIKOU, March 3. /TASS/. The Chinese State Council published an updated "List of Wild Animals Especially Protected by the State", it included 161 species of living organisms inhabiting the southern Chinese province of Hainan, reported the Hainan Daily.
The animals are divided into two groups. In the first category, the highest level of wildlife protection, there are 29 species, in the category of the second level — 132 species. The most widely represented on the list are birds — the Chinese government has established a special status for 121 species of Hainan birds. The catalog also includes fifteen species of mammals, thirteen reptiles, nine insects, two amphibians and one arachnid.
The first edition of the list of China's rare animals was published by the autho rities in 1989. In total, the new list contains 980 species and eight genera of fauna representatives. Chinese legislation distinguishes between two levels of animal protection. The first includes rare and endangered species, the second — small numbers of species at risk of extinction. In the new edition of the list, 517 new varieties were added and all previously introduced species were retained, while some of them were transferred from the group of the first level of protection to the second category.
The Hainan authorities pay special attention to the protection of the province's ecosystem, the construction of nature reserves and the restoration of rain forests. In January 2019, a pilot zone for the Rainforest National Park was set up in the province. The island is home to a large number of rare animal species, such as the Hanan gibbon, the Hainan shrub partridge and the Hainan shell spindle (legless lizard).