As we all know, China's land is vast and vast, spanning about 62 degrees from east to west and about 5,200 kilometers, and crossing latitude from north to south by about 50 degrees, with a land area of more than 9.6 million square kilometers and a water area of about 4.7 million square kilometers of inland and border seas.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" > what are the tropical regions in China? </h1>
China is located on the west bank of the ocean, that is, on the verge of the largest ocean on the earth, the Pacific Ocean, backed by the largest continent Eurasia, and has a large north-south span, so it is one of the countries with superior hydrothermal conditions in the world, and the total amount of water resources ranks sixth in the world (the top five are: Brazil, Russia, Canada, the United States, Indonesia).
Because the southern part of China has the dividing line tropics and the northern temperate zone through the Tropic of Cancer, specifically Taiwan Province, Guangdong Province, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Yunnan Province is crossed by the Tropic of Cancer, so the heat is abundant and the rainfall is abundant, but because Guangxi is affected by the cold current along the southern coast and other factors, it plays a role in cooling and humidification, resulting in relatively low temperature and rainfall in Guangxi, which cannot meet the "requirements" of the monthly average temperature and average precipitation on the definition of tropical climate, so it belongs to the subtropical monsoon climate zone. Only the southern part of Taiwan Province, the Leizhou Peninsula of Zhanjiang in Guangdong Province, and the southern part of Yunnan (including most of Xishuangbanna and Pu'er), and most of Hainan have reached the standard of "tropical" according to the amount of accumulated temperature, but there are obvious dry seasons and rainy seasons, so they are not tropical rainforest climates, but tropical monsoon climates, but vegetation (natural landscapes) are tropical rainforests.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="18" > China's natural "species gene pool"</h1>
Previously, the author said in the popular Science Yunnan Indian bison (also known as Asian bison, white-limbed bison), round-nosed monitor lizards and other rare wild animals, because Yunnan is located in the southwest of China, the terrain of the northwest is high and the southeast is low and the altitude difference is abnormal, so the climate types are diverse, the central and northern parts belong to the subtropical monsoon climate, the south belongs to the tropical range, the northwest of Yunnan belongs to the plateau mountain climate, the animal and plant species rank first in the country, and the vertebrate species and higher plant species account for more than 60% and 58.9% of the country, respectively. Known as the "animal kingdom" and the "plant kingdom".
And Hainan Province is located in the southernmost part of Our country (belongs to South China), here is in the northern edge of the tropical region, the whole territory basically belongs to the tropical monsoon climate, in addition to a very few years of winter in the winter has a long summer without winter, abundant rainfall, rain sources mainly "frontal rain", "hot thunderstorm" and "Typhoon rain", not only pleasant climate, very suitable for "northerners overwintering", but also conducive to the growth and reproduction of heat-driven plants, is the ideal base for breeding in the south of China.
Hainan has sufficient light temperature and high photosynthetic potential, known as China's "natural greenhouse", the island not only has magical tropical primary forests (tropical rainforest), but also 102 rare animals are listed in the national list of first and second class key protected animals, including black-crowned gibbons, Hainan po deer and other rare species. And there are wild species such as wild rice, small grain rice, wild lychee, etc., which have high scientific research value. Because Hainan's biodiversity is very rich, it can be said that it is China's "species gene bank" and the largest "natural museum", which has formed rich tourism resources due to unique natural landscapes and different customs and customs.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="37" > Hainan black-crowned gibbon like "Tim Ting"</h1>
According to reports from Hainan Daily and other media, the reporter learned at the joint press conference of Haikou-Marseille held on September 5 that "the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park Administration monitored that the two family groups of Hainan gibbon b group and D group increased by 1 baby ape each", that is, "the population of Hainan gibbon increased from 33 in 5 groups in 2020 to 35 in 5 groups".
Speaking of The Hainan black-crowned gibbon, some friends may be more "strange", it is the mammalian primate ape suborder gibbon family gibbon genus, the only species of 20 species of gibbons in the world in China's Hainan Province, that is, the "specialty" of Hainan Province, the population is smaller than the population of giant pandas, Asian elephants and other species, and the degree of threat of giant pandas is also reduced from "endangered" to "vulnerable", but it is still a "national treasure".
Hainan black-crowned gibbon has Hainan gibbon, black gibbon, howler monkey, monkey, material monkey, wind monkey, black monkey and other nicknames, and other species by pulling pee to mark the territory, Hainan gibbon relies on roar to determine the territory, the field of activity is relatively fixed, mainly eat nuts, in the season when food is more scarce, it will occasionally be hungry with young leaves, flower buds and small insects, bird eggs and other animal foods.
From the perspective of habitat environment, Hainan gibbon inhabits the primitive tropical rainforest at an altitude of about 100 meters to 2500 meters and the evergreen broad-leaved forest of the tropical montane wet monsoon in South Asia, and the activities, foraging, rest, etc. are carried out in the canopy or middle layer of large trees with a height of more than 15 meters and a diameter of more than 20 centimeters, and rarely move on small trees below 5 meters, living a "tall" but unsettled life, that is, never falling to the ground, "eating, drinking and sleeping" are in the trees and there is no fixed "nest".
From the appearance point of view, the difference in coat color between males and females is obvious, mainly manifested in the fact that the male ape is almost black, the female ape is golden throughout and has a crown spot on the head that is just like wearing a "small black hat", so it is called the Hainan black-crowned gibbon, but unlike some other species, the male is slightly larger than the female, and the male of the Hainan gibbon is slightly smaller than the female ape.
The Hainan gibbon is one of the 25 extremely endangered primate species in the world, and has been included in the list of wild animals under primary protection in China and is protected by law.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="76" > Why are Hainan gibbons so rare? </h1>
In fact, at the beginning of the 20th century, when the forest coverage rate of Hainan reached 90%, Hainan gibbons also had a large range of distribution, and by the 1950s, the reduction of forest area and its population number dropped to more than 2,000, and with the expansion of the influence of human activities, its habitat was continuously compressed or the habitat was fragmented and isolated into an island-like distribution, resulting in a sharp decline in populations, and by the early 1990s, there were fewer than 10 individuals in two groups in the "Bawangling Nature Reserve", and there was almost no trace in other areas , is a critically endangered species.
Although the population size of The Hainan gibbon has been restored to 35 in 5 groups, and China has made great efforts to restore its population recovery, it is still on the verge of illness, which is mainly related to the habitat environment and its own reproductive rate on which the Hainan gibbon depends.
First, the habitat of Hainan gibbon is unique
As mentioned above, the "habitat" of Hainan gibbon is very special, inhabiting the top or middle layer of large trees in the primary forest, never going down to the ground, it can be said that it is not only very "picky" about the habitat of the primary forest, but also very "picky", so it is difficult for plantations or secondary forests to reach its habitat standards.
Moreover, this "tall" lifestyle is not conducive to the statistics of the number of its populations by the staff, and because of its high dependence on the natural environment, it cannot be expanded by "artificial breeding" like giant pandas, crested ibises and other species, and can only be restored by protecting and expanding their habitats and relying on improving the ecological environment of the rainforest.
Second, the Hainan gibbon will form a "family" like humans
For most animals such as tigers and hyenas, either living alone or in groups, there is no concept of "family", most animals are only in the "estrus period" of a short "combination" or "together", but the situation is different for Hainan gibbons.
Hainan gibbons generally live in "monogamous family groups", consisting of a male ape, a female ape and one to three young animals, that is, a Hainan gibbon "family" consists of about 5 "members", it can be said that this "family structure" is very similar to humans.
However, the breeding rate of Hainan gibbons is very slow, male apes to 7-8 years old to achieve sexual maturity, while female apes to 9 years old, every 2-3 years to breed once, the gestation period is 7-8 months, and 1 litter only gives birth to 1 cub, adult weight 7-10 kg, life expectancy up to 30 years.
Usually, male apes will "separate" after "adulthood" to live an independent life, and during this period, if they cannot seize the status of "leader" in other ape groups, they are likely to live alone for a lifetime, so the breeding rate of Hainan gibbons is quite slow.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="110" > summary</h1>
Hainan gibbons were widely distributed on China's Hainan Island at the beginning of the last century, and the tall trees of the original rainforests of Wuzhi Mountain, Parrot Ridge, Diaoluo Mountain, Limu Mountain, Dongfang and Baisha are their important habitats.
However, with the development of industry and agriculture and the growth of population, the large area of primary forest that was originally suitable for the habitat of Hainan gibbons has been cut down, replaced by farmland or artificial economic forests, due to overdevelopment or serious fragmentation of primitive ecological forests, lack of ecological corridors, etc., the population of Hainan gibbons has declined sharply in just one hundred years, becoming one of the "endangered species".
Fortunately, since the early 1990s, Hainan Province has completely stopped the deforestation of natural forests, strengthened the protection and restoration of the ecological environment, and planted a large area of sour dates, banyan trees and other trees suitable for Hainan gibbons to move and feed around the reserve, making its habitat range continue to expand.
The discovery of 2 baby apes of Hainan gibbons shows that important achievements have been made in the protection of "gibbons", and also shows that the ecological environment of Hainan has become better, and the tropical rainforest ecology is becoming more and more suitable for the survival of "gibbons".