Abstract： The Houhe National Nature Reserve (HNNR), located in central China, is part of the eastern Wuling Mountains and is rich in biodiversity. Aside from a natural resource survey conducted in 1997, however, no comprehensive survey has thus far been conducted for the diversity of mammal and bird species. To address this deficiency, we set up 53 camera traps in HNNR from July 29th, 2012 to January 8th, 2013. A total of 1963 independent valid photos were taken of the target species, representing 4 orders, 12 families and 19 species of mammal, and 4 orders, 7 families and 29 species of birds. According to the relative abundance indices, the wild boar (Sus scrofa), tufted deer (Elaphodus cephalophus) and Chinese goral (Naemorhedus griseus) predominated among mammals. Among birds, the highest relative abundance indices were for the golden pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus) and Chinese tragopan (Tragopan temminckii). The survey detected several rare animals under second-class state protection, i.e. the Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus), rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta), Chinese serow (Capricornis milneedwardsii), Chinese goral, golden pheasant, Chinese tragopan and besra (Accipiter virgatus). The survey also detected several Chinese endemic animals, i.e. the red-hipped squirrel (Dremomys pyrrhomerus), Père David's rock squirrel (Sciurotamias davidianus), Reeves' muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi), Chinese thrush (Turdus mupinensis), rusty laughingthrush (Garrulax poecilorhynchus) and Elliot's laughingthrush (Garrulax elliotii). Our findings provide the foundation for future research on ecological community composition, population dynamics, niche diversification, activity rhythms and habitat use, which will under-score subsequent long-term conservation monitoring in HNNR.
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