Baihe Nature Reserve in Jiuzhaigou County, Sichuan was among the 17 nature reserves which won national-level status upon approval by the State Council recently, bringing the total number of national-level nature reserves in Sichuan to 24 and hence further cementing the province’s high ranking nationally.

Baihe Nature Reserve covers an area of some 20,000 hectares. Established in 1963, it is one of the five earliest nature reserves in Sichuan (others being Wolong in Aba, Labahe and Fengtongzhai in Ya’an and Wanglang in Mianyang).

The new approval has made Baihe Sichuan’s only national-level nature reserve featuring golden snub-nosed monkeys.

Inhabited by 1,600 to 1,800 golden snub-nosed monkeys,?Baihe reserve?leads the world in terms of population density, according to Li Dayong, a professor at China West Normal University who has been long dedicated to the research of the rare animal.