Science fun

Botanist Shi Jun introduces plants and flowers to the youth. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Showing fieldwork

Beijing-based Chinese Felid Conservation Alliance started to promote its research projects and share the fieldwork on micro blogs and WeChat last year.

Their posts are also about observations on a wide range of topics, such as wild animals, birds and plants.

The major research project is to monitor and persevere North-Chinese leopards in the Taihang Mountains, Shanxi province. It's the first ecological research on the subspecies that's only native to China. Their final aim is to bring all the leopards to Beijing, where they once lived, by ecology restoration.

"It needs some basic knowledge to understand our articles. Our target readers are those who're interested in nature and wild animals. They're only a small group but the number is increasing steadily," said Huang Qiaowen, 30, the nonprofit's fundraising director.

"Social media is a vital channel to promote knowledge about wildlife in China but more needs to be done. Many are still surprised to find that China has wild North-Chinese leopards."