[InKunming--Yunnan] Recently, a fregata ariel was found at Yanjin County, Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province. It is the first time to discover a new species of birds in Yunnan, according to a working staff of Wildlife Conservation Office attached to Yanjin County Forestry Bureau.

Wind kept howling at Lishan countryside,Yanjing Town, Yanjin County on the morning of December 21th. When Zuo Taifa drove through the countryside, he unexpectedly saw a bird landing and squatting on the road without moving. “it would be terrible if this bird encounters the bad.”he thought in his mind after observing for a while. Then he contacted with Forest Public Security Bureau of Yanjin County for proper rescue.

The working staff kept and properly protected the bird the same day. The bird was measured 71cm in length with a wing of 54cm and a tail of 34.3cm and its weight reaches 787g. Moreover, the bird has a dark brown body with a white brown head and chest, which is really rare in the world.

The bird was identified as fregata ariel with high scientific and ecological value by Yang Xiaojun, the researcher from Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Meanwhile, staff of Yanjin County Forestry Bureau claimed that they will make more efforts to protect wildlife resource after a field research about local wild birds, they will take corresponding protective measures.

In fact, the fregata ariel is a seabird of the frigatebird family Fregatidae. It distributes over tropical and subtropical waters across the western Indian Ocean and the central Pacific Oceans as well as the south Atlantic coast. Frigate birds are built for flying above the sea. They rarely swim and cannot walk but mainly rely on small fish for food.

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(Editors: Rachel, Christine)