On February 4, 2023, a herd of Tianshan wapiti forage at the 10,000 mu ecological forest near the Barkol Kazakh Autonomous County in Hami City, northwest China’s Xinjiang.

Tianshan wapiti is mainly distributed in the forest areas around the East Tianshan Mountains, and is under second-class state protection in China. The natural breeding stock in the deep forest of Tianshan Mountains is less than 10,000.

Although it is already the beginning of spring, the temperature in Barkol Kazakh Autonomous County is still low, the snow in the mountains has not melted, and the grass has not sprouted. In recent years, at the end of winter and the beginning of spring, a herd of Tianshan wapiti would walk out of the East Tianshan Mountains and go to the village at the foot of the mountain to look for food, creating a beautiful scenery on the grassland. (Correspondents: Dawut Rexit, Ayimgul Qaymurat)

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