Current view: Text account
Site description (2009 baseline):
Site location and context
Located between Nyainqêntanglha Mountain and the eastern Himalayas, adjacent to India. The IBA includes well-developed glaciers and part of the ‘big bend’ area of the Yarlong Zangbo river (known as the Brahmaputra in its lower reaches), which is the deepest and longest canyon in the world. The vegetation shows prominent zonation, with lowland tropical rainforest and semi-evergreen rainforest (600-1,100 m), broadleaf evergreen forest (1,100-2,200 m), coniferous forest (2,800-4,000 m) and alpine scrub and grassland (above 4,000 m).
Non-bird biodiversity: Nationally protected animals include Presbytis entellus, Panthera tigris, Selenarctos thibetanus, Ursus arctos, Selenarctos thibetanus, Ailurus fulgens, Capricornis sumatraensis, Moschus chrysogaster and Naemorhedus cranbrooki.
Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
The IBA has been partially protected since 1985, and protection was expanded in 2000 to become the present national nature reserve (961,800 ha).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Yarlung Zangbo Daxiagu Nature Reserve (China (mainland)). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/yarlung-zangbo-daxiagu-nature-reserve-iba-china-(mainland) on 23/12/2024.
