Over 1,200 black-necked cranes spend winter in nature reserve in SW China's Yunnan

Black-necked cranes are seen at the Dashanbao Black-necked Crane National Nature Reserve in Zhaotong city, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Photo/Wu Taiping)

Over 1,200 migratory black-necked cranes, a species under first-class state protection in China, were recently spotted in a national nature reserve in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

The Dashanbao Black-necked Crane National Nature Reserve in Zhaotong city in the province is an important wintering habitat for migratory black-necked cranes on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.

The black-necked crane is the only one of China's nine crane species that inhabits plateau areas.

Thanks to consistent conservation efforts, the black-necked crane was downgraded from "vulnerable" to "near threatened" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species in 2020.