March 3rd marked the 11th World Wildlife Day, with this year's global theme being "Connecting People and Planet: Exploring Digital Innovation in Wildlife Conservation."
Koala in the Chimelong Park
In recent years, the application of digital technology in wildlife conservation has been garnering increasing attention from society.
South China tiger in the Chimelong Park
Among the 2022 Guangdong Science and Technology Awards, Guangdong Chimelong Group's achievement in "Key Technologies and Applications for the Conservation of World's Rare Wildlife Genetic Resources" was honored with the Special Award for Technological Advancement.
Wei Fuwen, academician from Chinese Academy of Sciences, explains knowledge about Komodo dragons to children.According to relevant data, over the past century, the number of tigers worldwide has declined by 95%, and the South China tiger specific to China has been extinct in the wild for 50 years. Currently, there are only slightly over 200 South China tigers in China, all of which rely on artificial breeding.
In order to increase the number of South China tigers and restore their ability to survive in the wild, Chimelong has established a training base for the tigers' wild reintroduction. Equipped with an intelligent conservation management system, the base utilizes advanced visible light and infrared thermal imaging technology to comprehensively monitor the tiger reintroduction areas, allowing real-time tracking of the tigers' movements. In 2022, two SouthChinatigers at Qingyuan's Chimelong Park managed to hunt for food in the wild by themselves.
Furthermore, the Chimelong Group has established an innovative model that integrates "germplasm bank for wildlife, scientific research, science dissemination, wildlife rescue, and wild reinduction." With the collaborationamongthe Chimelong Parks in Guangzhou, Zhuhai, and Qingyuan, seven large-scale species conservation bases and expert teams from around the world have developed four key technology systems: optimized breeding and nurturing of wild animals, precise nutrition feeding, targeted disease prevention and control, and suitable habitat maintenance.
To address the global challenge of relocating Komodo dragons, Chimelong Group has devoted ten years to researching and developing a technological system for the ecological environment construction for Komodo dragons. In doing so, they have gained comprehensive knowledge of the growth pattern of Komodo dragons, established nutrition and health systems as well as biological safety and disease control systems for the Komodo dragons.
In addition, they pioneered the artificial incubation and rearing technology system for Komodo dragons in the subtropical region, broke through the bottleneck of the grouping technique of artificially bred young Komodo dragons, and achieved the first successful breeding in China. Up to now, they have successfully bred 25 Komodo dragons, filling in the gaps in related research worldwide.
It is reported that through the breakthroughs in critical technologies for various wildlife species, Chimelong Group has successfully protected over 120,000 individuals of more than 1,200 species, including 286 species listed in Appendix I andIIof CITES and 105 species under national protection. Also, they top the world in both the number of animals and the size of breeding bases.
