Latest news with #KunmingInstituteofZoology
Borneo Post
27-05-2025
- General
- Borneo Post
Captive-bred green peafowls naturally reproduce in China
A captive-bred green peafowl is seen at the Weishan Qinghua green peafowl provincial nature reserve in the Bai Autonomous Prefecture of Dali, southwest China's Yunnan Province, May 20, 2025.(Xinhua/Hu Chao) KUNMING (May 28): Four green peafowl chicks were recently hatched naturally in a wild training base in southwest China's Yunnan Province, marking the first successful natural breeding of the captive-bred species in a simulated wild environment and major progress in the country's rewilding efforts for the rare birds. The young birds were discovered in mid-May via camera surveillance at the training base located at the Weishan Qinghua green peafowl provincial nature reserve in the Bai Autonomous Prefecture of Dali. The base was co-founded by the nature reserve, the Kunming Institute of Zoology (KIZ) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Yunnan Forest Nature Center (YFNC), with a focus on wild training of captive-bred green peafowls. Currently, 11 birds are receiving wild training at the base. May 22 marks International Day for Biological Diversity. Yang Jiawei, an official at the reserve, said captive-bred green peafowls are trained in simulated wild conditions to master survival skills like foraging, predator avoidance and reproduction before they are released into the wild. An aerial drone photo taken on May 20, 2025 shows the Weishan Qinghua green peafowl provincial nature reserve in the Bai Autonomous Prefecture of Dali, southwest China's Yunnan Province.(Xinhua/Hu Chao) 'Naturally hatched chicks adapt better in the wild, increasing the release success rates,' Yang said. He added that, in the next step, the base will assess the peafowls' survival skills and release those qualified into the wild with trackers for monitoring, providing technical support for China's conservation efforts. Lu Lin, who is in charge of wildlife rescue and breeding at the YFNC, said that in 2024, the center in the provincial capital Kunming successfully bred 48 chicks, with the hatching rate surging to 73.85 percent, up from 15 percent three years prior. As of May 22, 12 chicks have hatched from 68 eggs laid this year, with more expected soon. The entire hatching process will be completed within two months. The green peafowl, China's only native peafowl species, is classified as 'endangered' on the IUCN Red List, with a higher extinction risk than giant pandas. A captive-bred green peafowl is seen at the Weishan Qinghua green peafowl provincial nature reserve in the Bai Autonomous Prefecture of Dali, southwest China's Yunnan Province, May 20, 2025.(Xinhua/Hu Chao) With the continuous ecological conservation efforts in China, endangered wild animal species, including the green peafowl, have seen a rise in their populations. In Yunnan, multiple nature reserves have been established in green peafowl habitats, with 48.1 million yuan (about 6.7 million U.S. dollars) spent on conservation projects like population monitoring and habitat improvement as of 2024, said Li Peng, an official in charge of wildlife protection from the provincial forestry and grassland bureau. Thanks to these efforts, the population of wild green peafowls has risen from less than 500 in 2016 to about 850 today. – Xinhua Green peafowl chicks are seen at the Yunnan Forest Nature Center in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, May 19, 2025.(Xinhua/Hu Chao) animal species China fauna peafowl
The Star
18-05-2025
- Science
- The Star
Global scientists develop South-East Asian population genome dataset
SOUTH-EAST ASIA (Xinhua): A group of international researchers has constructed a comprehensive Southeast Asian population genome variation dataset, according to the Kunming Institute of Zoology (KIZ) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA) has rich ethnic and cultural diversity with a population of nearly 300 million. However, people from MSEA are underrepresented in the current human genomic databases. The researchers from countries including China, Thailand and Cambodia spent more than 10 years venturing deep into the rainforests of South-East Asian countries and collecting samples from South-East Asian populations covering five major language families in six countries. They successfully completed whole-genome deep sequencing of 3,023 samples. The international researchers have, for the first time, comprehensively mapped the genetic variation and genomic structure of South-East Asian populations. The study is now also revealing how the genomic landscape of the region has been shaped by the combined effects of ancient population differentiation, admixture, adaptation, changes in population size and gene flow from archaic humans, according to their research article published in the journal Nature. Additionally, the study has revealed the genetic mechanisms underlying phenotypic traits related to adaptation to tropical rainforests, such as skin color, body height and malaria resistance. This provides important evidence for understanding how natural selection has shaped modern human phenotypic diversity. The study has also detected multiple traces of Denisovan gene flow in South-East Asian indigenous populations, suggesting that this archaic human group may have been widely distributed across the vast region stretching from Siberia to South-East Asia, the KIZ said. This finding redefines the geographical boundaries of human prehistoric evolution. Phase II of the genome dataset has been initiated, according to the KIZ, which is dedicated to building a high-resolution genomic map covering the entire South-East Asian region. - Xinhua
