BEIJING, March 2 (Xinhua) -- The number of wild animal species in Beijing had increased to 600 by the end of 2017, municipal authorities said Friday.

Ecological improvement has contributed to the increase, according to the Beijing Gardening and Greening Bureau.

The city's afforestation efforts over the past five years saw almost 90,000 hectares of forests and greenbelts planted, bringing the forest coverage rate to 43 percent. Beijing also restored or created more than 8,000 hectares of wetlands during the period.

Fangshan District in southwestern Beijing is an important habitat for birds including black storks to spend the winter, reproduce, and migrate.

A total of 14 black storks were spotted in Shidu scenic area in Fangshan this winter. There are only about 2,000 of the species around the world.

To help the black stork survive the winter, Beijing has introduced 750 kilograms of small fish at fixed feeding sites.

More than 89 monitoring stations were installed to monitor the health of wild animals in the capital.