A reserve zone for an extremely endangered species of Chinese
gazelle, the Przewalski's gazelle, has been set up in northwest
China's Qinghai Province, an official said on Saturday.
Li Hailian, director of the tourism bureau of Gangcha County,
said the number of the gazelles living around Qinghai Lake, China's
largest salt water lake, had risen to more than 300 from about 200
in the 1980s with proper protection measures.
Authorities have invested 2.12 million yuan (290,000 US dollars)
during the past five years to protect the rare gazelle before
setting up the 162-square-kilometer zone.
Sick and injured gazelles in the zone would be cared for in the
future, while zoologists would breed and study the animals.
The gazelle, native to China like the famous Tibetan antelope,
is the most endangered hoofed mammal species in the world.
The historical distribution of the Przewalski's gazelle covered
an area in central and northwest China, including the Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region,
Gansu and Qinghai provinces. But today, they are only found living
around the lake, according to Li.
Their numbers have been affected by decades of habitat
destruction and range reduction. The increase in the human and
cattle populations and the development of cultivated lands have
reduced the gazelles' food supply.
Przewalski's gazelle was named after a Russian adventurer who
collected a specimen and brought it back to St. Petersburg in
1875.
(Xinhua News Agency December 30, 2007)
