Louguantai Wild Animal Breeding And Protection Center in Xian

Louguantai Wild Animal Breeding And Protection Center Facts

There are many rare and endangered animals at the Louguantai Wild Animal Breeding and Protection Centre in Zhouzhi County. The Centre is based approximately 76 kilometres (1.5 hours) from Xian. It is the first crested ibis breeding centre in China. Apart from crested ibis, there are also many other rare animals here, including giant pandas, golden monkeys, antelope, white lipped deer, musk deer, vulture and owl.

Chinese Name: 陕西省楼观台珍稀野生动物抢救饲养研究中心

Type: Nature & Animals; Wild Animal Breeding And Protection Center

Address: Huayin City, Weinan City, Shaanxi Province

Best Seasons: April to October

Recommended Visiting Time: about 1-2 hours

Ticket: March-November: CNY 30
December-February: CNY 20

Opening Hours: 8:00-18:00

More Picture

Why Visit Louguantai Wild Animal Breeding And Protection Center?

There are many rare and endangered animals at the Louguantai Wild Animal Breeding and Protection Centre in Zhouzhi County. It is the first crested ibis breeding centre in China. Apart from crested ibis, there are also many other rare animals here, including giant pandas, golden monkeys, black bears, leopards, giant salamanders, peacocks, antelope, white lipped deer, musk deer, vulture and owl.
The most valuable animals of the center should be giant panda, crested ibis, golden takin, and golden monkeys.
A Giant Panda Breeding Centre is also under construction which will be the fourth of its kind in China after that in Wolong, Sichuan, Chengdu, and Beijing.

Brief Introduction

Louguantai

As a famous Taoist cultural site, Louguantai is located along the north range of Qinling Mountains, about 15km (9 miles) from Xi’an. Known as the home of Taoist temples, it got its name from the Western Zhou Dynasty in the 11th century B.C. The attractions include Ancient Louguantai Taoist Temple, Temple of God of Wealth, and Louguantai Forest Park. Except all of that Taoist culture, it’s also the nearest place from downtown Xi’an for you to enjoy cute giant pandas.

Louguantai Wild Animal Breeding And Protection Center

The Louguantai Wild Animal Breeding and Protection Centre (Shaanxi Wild Animal Conservation Research Centre SWARC) is located 76 km from Xi’an. It was founded in 1987. This is one of the most famous zoological centers in China, located in Shaanxi province. Its area exceeds 140 hectares. The center is divided into several sectors to treat, breed, feed and study animals.

The Louguantai Center manages rare and endangered species of China, listed in the International Red Book. There are the giant panda, red panda or firefox, golden monkey, black bear, leopard, giant salamander and other faunal forms of China. However, outside of China, Louguantai is best known as the Center for the breeding of the crested ibises.

Main Rare Animals of The Center

Crested Ibi

As one of the fifty rarest birds in the world, the crested ibis is regarded as an “Oriental treasure” and has been afforded special protection in China. In the last century the bird widely spread over Asia. China, Japan, Russia and many other Asian countries were once habitats of the crested ibis. As a consequence of the widespread destruction of forests and wetland habitats, and the illegal hunt for its long white breeding plumage, the species declined dramatically to a population of hundreds. The bird, somewhat like the Chinese egret, is extraordinary beautiful, with red cheeks, a hooked beak and white plumage. It was regarded as a symbol of happiness and good luck by the ancient Chinese and was even called the “bird of auspiciousness”.

Shaanxi is the only habitat for this rare bird in China. The Louguantai Crested Ibis Breeding Centre is a famous breeding base for the crested ibis away from its original birth places. 21 crested ibis have been bred over the last year and there are more expected this year. To help them avoid distraction from outsiders, workers here put each “couple” in an enclosed huge netting cage.

Giant Pandas

The Center also keeps about 20 giant pandas. The Center employees have also made attempts of their artificial breeding, which were crowned with the first success in 2009, when the 6-year-old panda Lucian gave birth to twins. The pandas, both the giant and the red pandas, are the most sought after by visitors. However, because of their nature—they eat and sleep several hours a day—most of them are not for public view, though the center sometimes let the travelers see two of them in their houses.

Golden Monkeys

It is also interesting to observe in the center of golden monkeys. These beautiful , fiery red animals with blue faces and snub-nosed noses are on the verge of extinction. In Louguantae care of 26 adult monkeys and young.

What to Do

The best way to visit the center is through a tourist bus. Because it is small, you can complete the entire tour for only a few hours. That’s why it’s often part of a half- or full-day tour when in Xi’an. Parents are encouraged to bring along their children. If you don’t want to pay for tours, you can just take a sightseeing bus at Nanguan.

It’s also possible to visit the park during the winters, where you can see some of the pandas enclosed in cages with heaters. The center has more than 7 pandas, and most of them are in the garden where they can play and eat; it’s at the back of the facility.

From the center, you can drop by a temple that is only a few minutes of walk. It’s called Lou Guan Tai, founded by Lao Zi who created the Dao De Jing.

How to get to Louguantai Wild Animal Breeding And Protection Center

Travel with ChinaDragonTours (top recommended)

If you want to get out of the traffic and hassle of navigation, you can book a private tour package that includes visiting, dining and transfer from us. Our local guide and driver will escort you to the Louguantai Wild Animal Breeding And Protection Center in the fastest and most convenient way and take care of all the details. You just have to focus on the visiting.

Independent Traveler

There are sightseeing bus from the Nanguan Bus station in Xian to the park.
Drive from Xian: around 1.5 hours

Useful Travel Tips

Huxian: a place famous for its traditional peasant paintings sits along the Xi’an-Louguantai highway. A trip to the Louguantai can be easily accompanied a stop at Wuxian and to have a look of those authentic paintings of the locals.
Protect the Animals: Please protect the wild animals and do not disturb their quit life when there.