Analysis | Meet the man who shoots China’s rarest animals to save them from extinction
Wildlife photographer Xi Zhinong has been working to protect endangered species for decades. Now he’s on a mission to save the green peacock, whose habitat is under threat from a hydroelectric plant
For more than three decades, wildlife photographer and conservationist Xi Zhinong has been trying to protect nature by capturing it on camera. He told the story of the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey in the 1990s, when the endangered species that lives in the remote mountain forests of southwest China was little known to the public. He lobbied the authorities and managed to save the monkeys’ habitat – old-growth forest – from being logged. Xi also campaigned to protect Tibetan antelopes, which were under threat from poachers shooting the animals for their woolly coats. His reports raised awareness of the fur trade and protection of the animals, which are native to the Tibetan plateau, was stepped up.
Xi has been recognised for his work with numerous international awards. In 2001, he became the first Chinese to receive the Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Species, and he was also named Wildlife Photographer of the Year – a global competition held by the Natural History Museum in Britain. He is the only Chinese photographer in the International League of Conservation Photographers, a non-profit organisation dedicated to environmental and cultural conservation through photography. Xi also founded Wild China Film, which for the past decade has been recording species in the country that are on the edge of extinction. His latest mission is to save the extremely rare green peacocks, which are native to China and endangered – and their Yunnan habitat is under threat from a hydroelectric plant being built on the Jiasa River.
What made you start the green peacock campaign?
For a long time, peacocks have been the symbol and mascot of Yunnan and people have taken it for granted that there are many peacocks in our province. But this is not the situation now. Green peacocks, China’s indigenous species, have almost disappeared from this country. What we see in zoos are blue peacocks, from India. The Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens told me there are no pure green peacocks in mainland zoos – the main difference between blue and green peacocks is the colour of their necks.