On July 30, 2025, He Dejing of Shennongjia National Park’s Yunpan Management & Conservation Center observed a slender-billed bird on the center’s grassy slope at around 1 p.m. After photographing the sighting and sharing photos with colleagues, park researchers confirmed it the following day as a Little Curlew - the species’ first official record in Shennongjia.
On the evening of June 11, 2025, a “special guest” visited the balcony of Chen Xiaoguang, an employee of the Administration of Shennongjia National Park. As a graduate of Huazhong Agricultural University, Chen keenly sensed this insect was uncommon. He promptly photographed it and uploaded the image to the Shennongjia National Park Baseline Resource Survey chat group. Identified by entomological experts, it was confirmed as a new record for Hubei Province’s insect family-the Three-spotted Flower Chafer (Clinterocera trimaculata). This discovery marks its first recorded appearance in Hubei.
Recently, heavy snow fell in Shennongjia National Park. Over 10 photographers from Chongqing, Hubei, Heilongjiang, and other provinces braved the cold to enter the Dalongtan Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey Research Base in Shennongjia National Park, adjacent to Chongqing’s Wushan County. They unveiled the mysterious lives of the golden snub-nosed monkeys, a first-class nationally protected species as rare as giant pandas through their lenses.
Chinese scientists recently discovered a new species of Dicranum in the Shennongjia National Park, which is named Dicranum shennongjiaense. This species exhibits unique morphological features, such as sickle-shaped leaves and strongly raised upper corner cells on the dorsal side of the upper leaves. This discovery enhances our understanding of Dicranum diversity and provides a new scientific basis for biodiversity conservation in the Shennongjia region.
My journey to Shennongjia, a stunning winter wonderland at 31 degrees north latitude, was nothing short of magical. Despite the snowfall having ceased days before our arrival, the "Roof of Central China" was still blanketed in a pristine white snow, with its peak, Shennongding, glistening in ice and snow.