King of the jungle

Mi can almost superhumanly sense the Protobothrops mucrosquamatus-a venomous pit viper species endemic to Asia-slithering through the grass several feet away. He can identify tracks left behind by the Lophura nycthemera (silver pheasant) and the Rusa unicolor (sambar deer), both of which are under national second-class protection.

Once the sun goes down, Yinggeling teems with an even greater variety of exotic creatures.

Hence, observing nocturnal animal behavior is a principal part of Mi's job description and he is uncompromising about keeping standards very high.

With the aid of headlamps, Mi and his colleagues have had the thrill of spotting the Rhacophorus bipunctatus (orange-webbed tree frog) and the Tylototriton hainanensis (a rare amphibian of the newt family).

"The T. hainanensis is endemic to Hainan. It is an endangered species and the discovery at Yinggeling had us excited for days," he recalls.

Mi and his wife, Jiang Shuai, came to the rainforest in July 2012, right after they graduated. They had completed their postgraduate studies at the Northeast Forestry University in Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province. Mi's focus was birds and Jiang's microorganisms.

Like most of their classmates, the couple had received good job offers in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, after graduation. Mi was offered a position in biological product sales while Jiang had a coveted opportunity to work at a biomedicine company. "But I thought, it would be a pity if I did not put my learning of over six years to a better and more productive use," he says.

As if destiny was eavesdropping on his thoughts, Mi received a call from one of his professors, who mentioned job opportunities at Yinggeling.

"I did a bit of research and knew this was it. The rainforest was our calling," he says.