Construction of an animal museum began recently in this capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province.

The Kunming Animals Museum, with a floor space of 7,021 sq m, is designed to have a specimen storehouse, a hall for exhibiting specimens of tropical and sub-tropical animals and their living environment, a cinema hall and a lecture hall.

The museum is based on the animal specimen exhibition hall of the Kunming Animal Research Institute, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

CAS president Lu Yongxiang said that the museum is of great significance for projecting Yunnan's bio-resources, in conducting scientific research and improving local people's awareness of protecting such resources.

Workers at the Kunming Animals Research Institute have collected nearly 600,000 animal specimens over the past 40 years. Currently, 2,060 specimens of 1,183 kinds of insects and 741 specimens of 493 species of vertebrates are on show at the institute.

(People's Daily 08/15/2001)