Wolong National Nature Reserve

Wolong National Nature Reserve
Panda cub at the panda breeding centre of Wolong Nature Reserve
Location	Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, People's Republic of China
Nearest city	Chengdu
Coordinates	31°01′N 103°06′E / 31.02°N 103.10°E / 31.02; 103.10Coordinates: 31°01′N 103°06′E / 31.02°N 103.10°E / 31.02; 103.10
Area	c. 2,000 km2 (770 sq mi)
Established	1963

Wolong National Nature Reserve (simplified Chinese: 卧龙自然保护区; traditional Chinese: 臥龍自然保護區; pinyin: Wòlóng Zìránbǎohùqū) is a protected area located in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, People's Republic of China. Established in 1963 with an initial size of about 20,000 hectares, the reserve was further expanded in 1975, covering an area of about 200,000 hectares in the Qionglai Mountains region. There are over 4,000 different species recorded in the reserve. According to China's Third National Giant Panda Survey, Wolong National Nature Reserve houses about 150 wild individuals of highly endangered giant pandas. The reserve is also a home to many other endangered species including: snow leopards, red pandas, golden monkeys, white-lipped deer and many precious plants. Before the devastating 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake Wolong gets up to 200,000 visitors every year. Its area is superseded by the Wolong Special Administrative Region.

In June 1980, the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda was established at Wolong with the efforts of both World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Chinese government. To this date, researchers have conducted many breeding research projects on giant pandas and have successfully bred 66 panda cubs.

A mountain stream runs through the Wolong Valley (where the reserve is); the stream is heavily armoured with boulders and smaller rounded stones. Stream waters are rather alkaline with pH levels in the range of 8.91. (Hogan, 2007) Water quality turbidity is quite high due to extensive sand and gravel mining in stream.