More than 8,000 primary and middle school students recently visited Shenzhen Safari Park to take part in an event promoting the awareness of wildlife protection, Monday's Daily Sunshine reported.

The students, some from Shenzhen and the rest from other cities in Guangdong Province, were offered the chance to play with small animals and watch performances by animals. In the science hall, the students' curiosity was aroused by the more than 1,000 specimens of about 200 animal species. Experts there answered many questions raised by the students.

Since 1990, Guangdong forestry authorities have designated November as the month for publicizing wildlife protection.

Through the event, the students can learn about the living habits of animals and the survival crisis they are facing in a more graphic way, said a teacher with Shenzhen Yuying School.

Official statistics show that Shenzhen is home to 485 kinds of terrestrial wildlife, of which 37 kinds are animals, 387 kinds are birds and 43 kinds are reptiles. The city also plays host to 47 kinds of rare animals including black-faced spoonbills, pythons, pangolins and rhesus monkeys.

(Shenzhen Daily November 28, 2006)