Two national second-level key protected wild animals, the eagle-billed turtle and the slender-horned rhinoceros beetle, were discovered in Lancang County.

China News Service, Pu'er, September 7 (Deng Shufen, Xu Mengshi) Recently, two national second-level key protected wild animals, the eagle-billed turtle and the slender-horned rhinoceros beetle, were discovered in Lancang Lahu Autonomous County, Pu'er City, Yunnan Province, located on the border between China and Myanmar. These two species have extremely high requirements on the ecological environment and their wild populations are rare.

The eagle-billed turtle was discovered in Fenghe Township, Lancang County. Two students saw the strange-looking turtle next to a stream and sent it to the local police station. The animal was confirmed to be an eagle-billed turtle. The eagle-billed turtle is named because its beak is hooked and curved into an olecranon shape. The body is extremely flat, the head is large and triangular, and the back of the head is covered with a large hard horny shell. The eyes are large, there are no external ear drums, the tail is long, almost equal to the body length, and it is covered with rectangular scales arranged in a ring. The head cannot be retracted into the shell. After examination, it was found that the animal was in good physical condition, had normal activities, and had the conditions to survive in the wild. It was later safely released into suitable natural waters.

The eagle-billed turtle found in the development river township. Photo courtesy of Lancang County Integrated Media Center

In addition, the resident work team of Mengbing Village, Nanling Township, Lancang County, encountered and recorded the rare rhinoceros beetle (also known as the five-horned beetle) during their daily work.

The slender-horned beetle is the second largest beetle in China. It feeds on rotten wood and humus soil, promotes the decomposition of humus, and plays a key ecological function in the forest material cycle.

The slender-horned rhinoceros beetle discovered in Nanling Township. Photo courtesy of Lancang County Integrated Media Center

In recent years, Lancang County has continued to implement the protection of wild animals and plants, regular patrol supervision, ecological law popularization, and constantly improve the biodiversity protection mechanism. A variety of nationally protected animals and plants are frequently discovered, which has become a vivid epitome of Lancang's protection of green waters and green mountains and the construction of a strong ecological security barrier on the southwest border. The county will continue to strengthen patrol monitoring of wild animals and plants, carry out ecological protection publicity on a regular basis, improve rescue and protection mechanisms, continue to consolidate ecological protection results, and make every effort to protect the county's good ecological resources and rich biodiversity. (over)