After years of defending and supporting a legal domestic trade in ivory, China made a big announcement in September: It’s shutting down the trade. The United States is, too. Together, the presidents of both countries have made an unprecedented public pledge to put a stop to all ivory trading—legal and illegal. The U.S. is on track […]
Tag: china
Hainan gibbon decline charted in Chinese records
Historical Chinese documents have helped scientists to track the decline of the world’s rarest primates. Today, China has between 26 and 28 Hainan gibbons left, but government records that date back to the 17th Century show that gibbons were once widespread across half of the country. The apes began to disappear from the documents about […]
Photos Show Sad Plight for African Elephants Lifted to China
New, secretly obtained photos show that elephants snatched from the wild in Zimbabwe months ago and airlifted recently to China are malnourished, sunken-looking, and scarred by wounds. “These calves look really horrible,” says Joyce Poole, co-founder of ElephantVoices, a Kenya-based research and advocacy organization. Poole reviewed the photos, which were sent exclusively to National Geographic. […]
Elephants rejoice: China to end ivory trade
The Chinese government announced today that it will “eventually” shut down its legal domestic ivory market. The move, which surprised conservationists, could provide a major boost in efforts to stop the mass killing of elephants for their ivory. The announcement came during a public event where 662 kilograms of contraband ivory was destroyed. Zhao Shucong, […]
Swifts migrate from Beijing to southern Africa without landing
Swifts born in Beijing’s old imperial palaces travel 16,000 miles every year to southern Africa and back again without touching ground, and over a lifetime clock up enough miles to get halfway to the moon. New research suggests that after they leave their nests for the first time, the birds spend up to three years […]
Sichuan Bush Warbler: New Bird Species Discovered in China
A multinational group of ornithologists, co-led by Dr Per Alström of the Swedish Species Information Centre and Dr Fumin Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Zoology, has described a new species of warbler from China. Dr Alström, Dr Lei and their colleagues have suggested Locustella chengi as the scientific name of the […]
China crushes six tons of ivory
China has destroyed several tons of confiscated ivory tusks and carvings, just months after the US crushed six tons of seized ivory. Officials in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, pulverised 6.1 tons of confiscated tusks and carvings in an event on Monday attended by representatives from 10 countries including the UK, and elephant states including Kenya, Gabon, […]
Anti-elephant poaching story goes viral in China
A newspaper story about the impact of the ivory trade has gone viral in China, raising awareness among millions of Chinese, reports the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The story, published November 15 in Southern Weekly, has been shared widely across Chinese web sites and social media, according to the conservation group. “The total views of […]