Wildlifeof China
Sources & photo credits
Where the species list and photos come from.
About this guide
A growing, species-first field guide to the wildlife of China: mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. This edition lists about 2,800 species, about 2,000 of them with photographs. Species descriptions are still being written.
How the species list was built
Species come from open reference lists whose ranges include China (the Mammal Diversity Database, the IOC World Bird List and the Reptile Database), plus species with at least 50 GBIF occurrence records in China (retrieved September 2026). Species with only 5 to 49 records, which can be vagrants, escapes or misidentifications, are held back until they have been checked by hand. Domestic animals are left out and duplicate entries under old and new scientific names have been merged. Common names follow the same lists, then the other Wildlife of Everywhere guides, then Wikipedia; many of China's frogs, lizards and small mammals have no English name yet, so their scientific name is shown.
Why there is no conservation status
This guide shows only national Red List categories, never global IUCN ones. China's national assessments are not available in a reusable open form, so no status label is shown yet. Many species are protected under Chinese law, including all giant pandas, snow leopards and cranes (Class I protected species).
Reference sources
- Mammal Diversity Database: mammal names and ranges (CC BY 4.0)
- IOC World Bird List: bird names and taxonomy
- The Reptile Database: reptile taxonomy and distribution (via Catalogue of Life, CC BY 4.0)
- GBIF · China: occurrence records used to check the lists
Trip reports
Field trip reports from Tropical Birding and Cat Expeditions, reproduced in full with the authors’ photographs. Every photo is credited to its photographer.
Trip report · Tropical Birding · 2025Southern China Birding with a Camera Reconnaissance Report 2025Tropical Birding's 2 to 13 January 2025 guide reconnaissance for its China Birding with a Camera tour, by Zac Babbit: photography hides at Baihualing, Hornbill Valley and Nonggong, then Hainan, with 217 birds and 12 mammals.
Trip report · Tropical Birding · 2017Sichuan and the Tibetan Plateau Birding Tour Trip Report 2017Tropical Birding's 1 to 17 June 2017 set-departure tour of Sichuan and the Tibetan Plateau, led by Sam Woods and Charley Hesse: pheasants, parrotbills, Przevalski's Rosefinch, Pere David's Owl and a checklist of about 300 species.
Trip report · Bird Tour Asia · 2026China in Winter Birding Tour Trip Report 2026Bird Tour Asia's 16 January to 6 February 2026 winter tour, led by Mike Nelson and Elan James, from Beijing and Bohai Bay to Poyang Lake's Siberian Cranes, Hainan, the Nonggang karst and Yunnan: Scaly-sided Merganser, Relict and Saunders's Gulls, Brown Eared Pheasant and a checklist of about 430 species.
Trip report · Bird Tour Asia · 2025East China Birding Tour Trip Report 2025Bird Tour Asia's 6 to 23 May 2025 tour north through ten provinces of eastern China, led by Elan James and Wilbur Goh: Silver Oriole, Cabot's Tragopan, Elliot's Pheasant, Reeves's Pheasant, Crested Ibis, Blue-crowned Laughingthrush and a checklist of about 290 species.
Trip report · Bird Tour Asia · 2025Xinjiang and Tibetan Plateau Birding Tour Trip Report 2025Bird Tour Asia's 7 to 26 June 2025 tour from Xinjiang along the edge of the Taklamakan Desert to Lhasa and the Tibetan Plateau, led by Mike Nelson: Xinjiang Ground Jay, Saxaul Sparrow, Tarim Babbler, Lord Derby's Parakeet and a checklist of about 240 species.
Trip report · Bird Tour Asia · 2024Sichuan Birding Tour Trip Report 2024Bird Tour Asia's 19 May to 7 June 2024 birding tour of Sichuan, led by Mike Nelson: Temminck's Tragopan, Chinese Monal, five parrotbills at Wawushan, Przewalski's Pinktail on the Tibetan Plateau, and a checklist of birds and mammals including red panda and takin.
Trip report · Cat Expeditions · 2026Chinese Mountain Cats of Sichuan Exploratory Trip Report 2025Cat Expeditions' seven-day exploratory trip to the Tibetan Plateau of Sichuan in 2025: two night-time sightings of a male Chinese mountain cat (the closest at four metres), four Tibetan fox sightings, plus Himalayan marmots, plateau pikas, a musk deer and 28 bird species.
Planning a visit
Many reserves, and all of Tibet, need permits or a local guide, border and high-altitude areas can be restricted, and rainy-season landslides and winter snow close trails and roads. Check with the reserve or your operator before you travel rather than relying on the details here.
Wildlife sightings are never guaranteed. The species listed for each place are what is realistically possible there, not what you should expect on a given day.
Your plans and sightings
Your trip plan and sightings are saved in this browser, on this device only. We never see them. Clearing your browser data will clear them too, so download the PDF if you want a copy to keep. Email buttons open a draft in your mail app; nothing is sent until you send it.
Species descriptions
Species accounts are our own paraphrased summaries of published, openly accessible sources, mainly Wikipedia species accounts, and for snakes and other reptiles also The Reptile Database (reptile-database.reptarium.cz), with national checklists and Red Lists where cited. Each account names its source in brackets. Some are general to the species and are not specific to this country; a short entry means the sources said little, not that we left something out. We use no IUCN Red List data.
Photo credits
Photographs come from iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA licences, or were taken by the Wildlife of Everywhere team. Each one keeps its photographer's name, licence and a link to the original.
Photographs are chosen to show the species clearly, so many were taken elsewhere in its range rather than in China. Tap the i on any photograph to see who took it. The full list is below.