The mountains of Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi are Nature’s multi-storey hotels. They are divided into a number of vertical bands, or ‘floor’, of vegetation, different plants and animals being confined to specific altitudinal zones. There zones are primarily dependent on temperature, which decreases by 1degree for every 100m or so increase in altitude. Similar ‘floors’ are found a few storeys higher up a mountain the further south one goes. In general, the bands follow a definite zonal pattern, from woodland, to forest consisting almost totally of firs. Above these floors are alpine meadows. The highest peaks are those with a penthouse suite of permanent snow.

1. Alpine Meadow
2. Subalpine Conifer Forests
3. Mixed Evergreen, Deciduous Forest
4. Animals that Also Appear in the Mountain Area