NANNING - A research institution to protect rare endangered Chinese white dolphins has been set up in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

The Guangxi Beibu Gulf Chinese White Dolphins Research Institute was jointly established Tuesday by the regional department of science and technology and the Institute of Oceanography of the State Oceanic Administration.

The institute will focus on the protection of the Chinese white dolphin and other rare wild animals, as well as marine ecological monitoring and marine pollution prevention.

Known as the "maritime panda", the Chinese white dolphin is the most endangered marine animal and under the first-class state protection in China.

The Chinese white dolphin mainly lives in the seas around Xiamen and the Pearl River estuary in south China. The Sanniang Gulf of the Qinzhou city of Guangxi is the "hometown of Chinese white dolpine".

The Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences estimates that about 2,000 of the dolphins are living in China's seas.