The population of Père David's deer is increased by 307 heads in the Shishou National Nature Reserve for Père David's Deer in the year according to a working meeting on Père David's deer diversion of the reserve held on November 22. The reserve now has 2,500 Père David's deer, the largest wild Père David's deer community in the world at present.

The number of Père David's deer has increased by nearly 40 times from the first 64 heads appearing in Shishou in 1990. In recent years, the Père David's deer has kept increasing with a stable birth rate of about 20% and formed four sub-populations in the core area of the reserve, Sanheyuan to the south of the Yangtze River, Yangbotan of Xiaohe, and the Dongting Lake area in Hunan Province.

The experience of the Père David's deer from scarcity to flourishment serves as the best proof that the ecosystem has been restored in Shishou. At present, the biodiversity in the reserve is well protected, with 321 species of higher plants and 320 species of vertebrates. The person in charge of the reserve said that the reserve was to keep strengthening informatization, improving the efficiency of management and protection, accelerating the establishment of a high-quality Père David provenance in China, and building a gene bank for Père David's deer in China.

Journalist: Zhang Zhiyuan