Yangxian County in Shaanxi is said to be the sole habitat of the ibises in the world, the number of these birds has been increasing rapidly in recent years, thanks to the great efforts China has made to protect the rare bird, said a local ornithologist.

In Yangxian, 66 ibises were born this year, half wild and half artificially bred at the Ibis Breeding Center in the county.

This has brought the number of the endangered species to 270 from merely seven in 1981, when it was first found in the county, the expert said.

The origin of the bird has been traced back 60 million years, with large flocks previously found in most of China, Japan, and Germany. But now the species is found only in China.

(People’s Daily 11/05/2000)