Yancheng city, Jiangsu Province, east China - Recent (CCTV-No access Chinese mainland)
1. Aerial shot of Dafeng National Nature Reserve
2. Various of aerial shots of elks in nature reserve
3. Aerial shot of elks crossing river
4. Various of elks
5. SOUNDBITE(Chinese) Wang Libo, office director, Dafeng National Nature Reserve(ending with shots 6-7):
"The total area of our nature reserve covers 2,667 hectares. We divided the place into three areas, one is the elk education center, the second is the half-wild elk living area and the last part is the all wild elk living area."
6. Aerial shot of river
7. Various of aerial shots of elks
8. Various of elk standing in dusk
9. Various of elks
10. SOUNDBITE(Chinese) Wang Libo, office director, Dafeng National Nature Reserve(ending with shots 11-12):
"We've been looking around the country to pick new locations. In 2016, we sent several elks to Dongting Lake and built up a small population there. We are now considering east China's Fujian Province. We've invited experts over there for research. Hopefully, we will further expand the population of elks in the country."
11. Various of aerial shot of wetland
12. Aerial shot of elks
13. Elk walking into river

Situated in east China's Jiangsu Province, the Dafeng National Nature Reserve for milu deers, also known as the "hometown of elks in China", was inscribed as a World Heritage site this month at the 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.

After 33 years of efforts on milu deer protection, the nature reserve has seen its number of milu deer increase from only 39 in 1986 to 5,016 as of this year.

The Chinese elk, known as a Milu or the Pere David's deer, is a species native to China. Over hunting and loss of habitat led to its near extinction in the early 20th century.

Since the British government gifted 39 milu deer to Dafeng Milu National Nature Reserve in 1986, the population of the species in the reserve has grown to 5,016, including more than 800 baby deer born in the nature reserve in 2019.

The number of milu deers living in the nature reserve now account for over 60 percent of the total global elk population.

It is not only the world's largest elk nature reserve, but also the largest elk gene pool globally.

"The total area of our nature reserve covers 2,667 hectares. We divided the place into three areas, one is the milu deer education center, the second is the half-wild elk living area and the last part is the all wild elk living area," said Wang Libo, office director from the nature reserve.

As the milu deer numbers continue to mount, the nature reserve is now occupied with finding other areas in China that would make for suitable habitats for some of the new deers.

"We've been looking around the country to pick new locations. In 2016, we sent several elks to Dongting Lake and built up a small population there. We are now considering east China's Fujian Province. We've invited experts over there for research. Hopefully, we will further expand the population of milu deers in the country," he said.