ThingsAsianWolong Reserve Park
Wolong Nature Reserve is the largest nature reserve with the most complex nature conditions, and the most rare plants and animals.
Image © 2009 dave chou
Located in the Wolong Valley, the nature reserve has become China's largest and certainly the most important sanctuary for giant pandas and other rare and precious animals and plants. In 1982, it was admitted by the UNESCO to be part of "the International Reserve Net of Man and Biosphere. Situated in Wenchuan County of Sichuan Province, Wolong Nature Reserve is a key nature preservation area designed primarily to protect and reproduce the giant pandas. Established in 1963, the reserve covers an area of about 200,000 hectares. Wolong Nature Reserve houses more than 150 highly endangered giant pandas Wolong Nature Reserve is a fairyland for tourists. It enjoys warm and humid climate favorable to bamboo, pandas' favorite food. At the same time, 101 mountains are above 5, 000 meters (16,400 feet) varying from 6, 250 meters (20,500 feet) to 1, 150 meters (3, 772 feet). These contribute to bio-diversity preservation as well as spectacular beauty of natural scene in Wolong Nature Reserve. The Wolong Nature Reserve is located high in the mountains of western China's Sichuan Province. Set up in 1963, Wolong is home to over 6,000 species of plants and animals. It is one of the last protected homes of the giant panda, red panda, golden snub-nose monkey white-lipped deer (Cervus albirostris). Wolong contains lush deciduous and evergreen temperate forests and high, ice-covered mountains. * * * The Wolong Nature Reserve has four general regions: Mountain slopes covered in deciduous and coniferous forests as well as bamboo groves River valleys, where most of the people live and farm; High alpine slopes above the tree line where wildflowers grow and yaks live Glacier-covered mountain peaks over 4,000 m above sea level * * * Wolong also means "sleeping dragon" and is a description of the mountainous peaks surrounding the Pitiao River valley. These mountains run through the center of the Wolong Nature Reserve. The local Qiang people believe a the legend of a giant dragon came wandering through the valley and fell in love with the beauty of the mountains and trees. The dragon decided to go to sleep and then never woke up.
