A natural calling

Since childhood, wildlife photographer Chu Wenwen has been immersed in nature, now she is using her work to advocate for the preservation of endangered animals.

Images of exotic wildlife in books, newspapers and on TV can be mesmerizing but the vulnerability of the species behind those images is too often overlooked.

Chu Wenwen wants to correct this, as she believes the key to protecting wildlife is to raise public awareness by telling us more about the stories behind the creatures.

The 24-year-old photographer has been living with, and working to protect, wild animals in Altay in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region since she was a child.

"Taking photos of wildlife is not to show off," she says modestly. "A qualified wildlife photographer should also tell the public the situation facing the wild animals and what could we do to provide them with a better living environment."

Pictures of cute creatures will always appeal to the public, but what they do not see is a direct link between the wild animals that live far away from them and their own lives, she says.

She adds that "actually we are all linked in the circle of the ecosystem, human activities may affect the survival environment of wild animals, and the change in the environment will in turn affect us".

Chu has photographed more than 20 kinds of wild animals like beavers, snow leopards, sables, lynx and Tibetan antelopes. All of them are nationally protected species. Capturing the amazing shots meant long-distance travel, enduring extreme climatic conditions and patience.

This last attribute involved staking out places where animals were likely to gather, sometimes crouching in the long grass and being as still as one of her potential subjects.

Being motionless for hours on end, noticing every intricate detail, she says she felt part of the natural habitat, and was in harmony with it.

The first animal she photographed was the Mongolian wild horse, a species that was once near extinction.

It is the only surviving species of wild horse in the world and its protection is key to preserving the genetic diversity of the species.

Chu enjoys her time observing the horses but sometimes the closeness comes at an emotional cost. She became so familiar with a four-month-old horse that she named it "Gu Li". Chu had seen Gu Li growing up, but the horse was fatally injured by a vehicle on a highway near Altay.

This incident reinforced her determination to help wild animals.

It's difficult to imagine a young woman in her twenties carrying heavy cameras, climbing mountains and walking through woods and desert to guard creatures.

However, Chu's passion for wildlife conservation runs in her genes. As a two-year-old toddler, her father took her out to observe animals in the wild.

During her childhood Chu spent all her holidays in this environment with him, especially after he moved to Altay for his work as a forestry official.

Animals are not too different from people, she says, and she always treats them like family members.

Now she studies wildlife conservation and utilization in Beijing Forest University as a postgraduate student, and she is doing research about wild animals.