"We need to do more to prevent them from becoming extinct than we once did for the giant panda," said Zhou Jiadi, a retired research fellow with the Institute of Zoology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Zhou, along with his colleagues and scientists from the Xinjiang Institute of Biology, Soil and Deserts, made a survey of the camels between 1976 and 1983 in Northwest China's Gansu Province and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

They took many photos and collected skeletons of the species.

Zhou said the camels are found mainly in Lop Nur, the northern foothills of the Altun Mountains and the northern border areas of the Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang. They can also be found in Dunhuang County and the Mazong Mountains in Gansu Province.

Also found in the People's Republic of Mongolia, which has a 1,416-kilometer borderline with Xinjiang, the wild camels often move into China to look for water and food.

Zhou recalled that they saw about 200 camels in 10 groups in the Lop Nur area during their expedition.

Camel endangered

The wild Bactrian camel is the only existing wild species of Camelus Bactrianus in the world and is considered to be the progenitor of the domesticated two-humped camel. The two species are similar in appearance, but the wild camel is taller and thinner and has short, thick, light brown hair, in comparison with the dark brown, light yellow or grayish white hair of the domestic species.

The shape of the humps is the most obvious difference between the two species. The two humps of the wild camel are smaller and more pointed than those of the domestic camel. Domestic camels' humps, which are larger and broader, can store fat weighing several dozen times more than that stored in the humps of their wild cousins.

The wild camel is an alert, timid and fast-running animal with a keen sense of hearing, sight and smell. They eat herbs, reeds and other desert plants and can drink salt water.

Wild camels live in the barren Gobi desert in extremely harsh conditions. The climate is exceedingly dry and water extremely scarce. Temperatures vary from minus 30 centigrade in winter to over 40 centigrade in summer and the surface temperature of the ground can sometimes reach 60-70 centigrade. There is a great disparity between day-time and night-time temperatures, and winds of force 8-10 are frequent.

With little vegetation, very few animals can survive the conditions. Only the wild camel, thanks to its very special physiology and long years of adaption to the inclemency of nature, has managed not only to survive but to thrive.

The wild camels do not have any fixed territories in the desert. To find water and vegetation, they often travel 50 kilometers in a single day. They like to stay in the thick of trees and shrubs, often hiding themselves in the shade at noon.

They generally travel in small groups of about 10, led by a strong and powerful male. They consume enough food and water at one meal to last them several days.

The wild Bactrian camel's mating season is at the end of winter, when the male camel becomes unusually ferocious. At this time, the male neither eats nor drinks and sleeps little. In each small group of camels, there can be only one all-powerful male. When two such groups meet, the two males will rush to challenge each other and fight until one is vanquished. The victor will then lead both groups away.

A female camel's pregnancy period is 13 months. It gives birth to only one calf, which is able to stand and walk in one day and run and jump in two or three days. After one year, the young camel will be able to live independently. Its average life span is about 20 years.

"After thousands of years living apart, the genetic make-up of wild camels is different from those of its domestic cousins. Therefore, they are of great value to scientific research and need to be protected as a special species," said Zhou.

Records of wild Bactrian camels can be found in historical documents dating back to the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24). There had been a long-standing debate in the world's zoological circles on whether the species still existed.

There are two types of camels in the world - the one-hump dromedary and the two-hump Bactrian camel. The dromedary is found in Africa, Arabia and India while the Bactrian camel's native home is the desert regions of central Asia.

It is interesting to note that all dromedaries have been domesticated by man over the past millennia. It was established centuries ago that there were no wild dromedaries left in either Africa or Asia.

Zoologists believed at one time that Bactrian camels had also been completely domesticated.

But near the end of the 19th century, the Russian explorer Przewaiski discovered some of these two-humped animals still living in the wild in a region north of the Altun Mountains to the east of Lop Nur in Xinjiang. Przewalski was able to obtain some living specimens and published his first scientific report on the animal in 1883.

The report aroused the interest of zoologists around the world.

Later, British scientist G. Littledale and Swedish scientist S. Hedin also acquired specimens of wild Bactrian camels during their expeditions in Xinjiang in 1894 and 1896-1902 respectively. It was finally confirmed that a wild species still existed.

China began its scientific study of the wild Bactrian camel in 1959.

In 1964, the Chinese Government designated the animal as an animal under the first-grade protection. The Xinjiang Environmental Protection Bureau established the 150,000-square kilometer Altun Mountains Wild Bactrian Camel Nature Reserve in 1986.

Then in 1993, the country issued its first set of stamps featuring the wild Bactrian camel in a bid to promote public consciousness about the need to protect the animal.

Supported by the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), an international expedition to investigate the wild Bactrian camel was launched between 1995 and 1997.

The expedition group was led by Professor Yuan Guoying, deputy director of the Xinjiang Scientific Research Institute of Environmental Protection and Dr John Hare from the UNEP.

They made several thorough investigations in Xinjinag's unpopulated desert areas, where the wild Bactrian camel lives, in the springs of 1995, 1996 and 1997 on their distribution, population, habits, migration patterns, habitat and the impact upon them of human activity.

The group estimated the existing number of wild camels in China to be between 730 and 880, making the animal much more endangered than the giant panda.

"People's economic activities, coupled with natural environmental changes, have caused a sharp fall in the number of wild camels," said Yuan.

The number was estimated to have been 10,000 about 100 years ago. Even in the 1980s, their population still stood at 2,000-3,000, according to Yuan.

The professor said wild camels may have inherited a genetic concept that man is their enemy. During their expeditions, they found that wild camels were so afraid of people that they began to run when expedition members were still kilometers away.

One incident in May, 1995 particularly surprised Yuan. Expedition members were able to move within 500 meters of a female camel without her running away. Looking carefully, they saw a little calf and realized that the mother had stayed there to protect her baby, which had just been born, despite the danger it put her in.

All expedition members were deeply moved by the mother's love. They did not move closer to the pair for fear of frightening the mother and her baby.

That scene has since then been engraved upon Yuan's memory. "I will never forget it," the professor said.

"At that moment, we came to realize how fragile the species is before mankind. Their survival depends on how we treat them in the future. That is the reason we should spare no efforts in saving them," Yuan said.

Xie Zhiqiang, deputy director of the Xinjiang Environmental Protection Bureau, said: "Illegal hunting is a deadly threat to the animal."

More and more illegal miners, who sneak into the northern part of the Altun nature reserve to mine its rich minerals reserves, have long hunted the wild camels, according to Xie, who also went on the expedition.

He said the increasing amount of unlawful mining in the habitat of wild camels has forced them to migrate into the desert hinterlands.

Yuan and Dr Hare put forward the plan of establishing the nature reserve to protect the wild camels upon the completion of their expedition. The plan gained strong support from the Chinese Government and the UNEP.

Better protection plan

The Xinjiang Environment Protection Bureau officially drafted the plan to enlarge the Altun Mountains Wild Bactrian Camel Nature Reserve from its initial 15,000 square kilometers to 67,000 in April this year. In May, the autonomous region gave the plan a green light.

According to the plan, the Altun nature reserve will be renamed the Altun Mountains-Lop Nur Wild Bactrian Camel Nature Reserve and will include all the three areas in which wild camels live in Xinjiang. The provincial-level nature reserve is expected to be upgraded to State-level in three years.

The World Environment Facility (GEF) under the UNEP gave generous financial support to the program. The organization agreed to provide a total of US$725,000 to help establish the nature reserve.

So far, US$250,000 has been given for the first phase of work, which includes the establishment of five monitoring stations equipped with radio communication equipment and vehicles.

The first phase of work, due to be completed by the end of November, is expected to effectively curb the illegal hunting of wild camels.

Wang Yexu, a senior program officer with Project Management Division IV of SEPA's Foreign Economic Co-operation Office, said it is important that China seek international funds to protect endangered animals.

"The protection of the wild camel, as the common wealth of the whole world, will contribute a lot to global biological diversity," said Wang.

The officer said his organization, together with local governments, will make sure all the money is put to good use.

In a joint effort to save the species, China and Mongolia signed a letter of intent in October to set up a transnational protection zone for the wild camels, which will add to the Altun-Lop Nur nature reserve and form a protection zone in Mongolia.

The nature reserve is not without its problems, however. Wang said the shortage of funds facing local governments is a major hindrance to the program.

According to an agreement with the GEF, the Chinese Government will provide a total of US$700,000 to the program. But cash-strapped local governments cannot even earmark enough money to start the initial operation and management of the nature reserve.

Moreover, it is hard for local authorities to hire qualified workers for the five monitoring stations along the border of the nature reserve.

Without drinking water or electricity, life is tough for anyone working at the monitoring stations, all of which are located deep in the desert.

Some local farmers without education hope to work for the monitoring station. But decisions have yet to be made, because the farmers still have to learn to use radio communication equipment.

Wang called for redoubled efforts from local governments to run the nature reserve well in a bid to create a better environment for wild camels.

"A daunting task still lies ahead even after the nature reserve is finally set up," said Wang. "Having a nature reserve is one thing, making full use of it is another."

(China Daily 11/3/2000)