Chongming Dongtan is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, in the middle part of the eastern route of migratory birds migrating north and south in China, and its geographical position is very important. Its biodiversity value is reflected in species diversity and ecosystem diversity. Dongtan is a vast beach with abundant benthic animals and vegetation resources, which is a distribution center for migratory birds and a wintering ground for waterfowl. There are 3 12 recorded species of birds in Chongming Dongtan, and millions of migratory waterbirds. Among them, there are 4 species of national first-class protected animals and 43 species of national second-class protected animals. There are 167 species belonging to Sino-Japanese migratory bird protection agreement, and 5 1 species belonging to Sino-Australian migratory bird protection agreement. There are 12 species of waterfowl listed in the Red Book of Endangered Animals in China. In addition, according to the statistics of wading birds surveyed in the spring of 1996, there are 8 species of world population that exceed or reach 1%; Three meet or exceed the standard of stopping more than 0.25%. Chongming Dongtan officially joined the East Asia-Australasia migratory wading bird protection network on 1999. In June 2002, wetlands international Secretariat officially accepted Chongming Dongtan as an internationally important wetland.

Autumn and winter are the best seasons for bird watching every year. At that time, a large number of geese and ducks spent the winter here. They rest in artificial fish ponds, which are supplementary habitats of the reserve. The population is in the thousands. As you can imagine, thousands of wild ducks are hovering in the sky, which is very spectacular. In addition, rare white-headed cranes will appear in the reserve. In case of spring tide, the crane will stop 500 meters outside the levee, which is the best time to watch the crane.

Of course, Dongtan wetland is rich in other biological resources besides birds. Among the existing 10 species of mammals, 73 species of fish and 3/kloc-0 species of crustaceans, there are many important species, such as national first-class protected wild animals, baiji and Chinese sturgeon, economic specialty species, hairy crabs and eel fry known as "soft gold", snails, Japanese giant shrimps and so on. The identified species in Chongming Dongtan include amphibians and reptiles 16 species, molluscs 2 1 species, annelids 13 species and insects 73 species.