The number

70 Chinese mergansers

The population of this endangered species, dubbed the "giant panda of birds", has increased from just 10 in 1997 to more than 70 at the Bishui Chinese Merganser Nature Reserve Administration in Yichun, Heilongjiang province. This follows intensive conservation efforts including bans on fishing and the unplanned felling of trees. The Chinese merganser has existed for more than 27 million years. There are 1,000 of the birds worldwide, and they breed mainly in Northeast China and Russia's Far East.