Flying in the lower level of trees are the colorful Muller's barbet (五色鳥), and the Formosan bulbul (烏頭翁), both of which are endemic to Taiwan.
"The recreation area tries to maintain a balance between conservation, leisure and education. With the abundance of wildlife here it's actually not a difficult balance to keep," said Lin Su-yi (林素夷) of the Taitung division of the Forestry Bureau.
Chuang had a slightly different take, though. "Because the vast majority of people are too lazy to walk the full 3km or so of the longer trails, large areas remain basically pristine forest where the presence of humans is just an occasional scary anomaly to the animals that live out there."
The staff at the recreational area understand that most people, when faced with a tropical forest, will tend to merely see a daunting and unfamiliar chaos of shades of green. So to help visitors make sense of the ecosystem they are entering, the park has expert volunteers from Taitung to lead nature tours along the trails offering explanations of the flora and fauna and the sometimes extraordinary ways they have adapted to the environment.
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