A total of 42 ibises, an endangered species of bird, will become new residents at the Wild Animals Saving, Raising and Research Center of Shaanxi Province, northwest China, in a couple of days, making the center the second base for breeding the rare bird in the country.

Yangxian County, which has the country's first ibis breeding base, is said to be the last habitat of the ibises in the world. The number of these birds has grown to more than 300 from just seven when they were rediscovered in the county in 1981.

The origin of the bird has been traced back 60 million years, with large flocks previously found in most of China, Japan, and Democratic People' s Republic of Korea, and Russia.

The Wild Animals Saving, Raising and Research Center of Shaanxi now also has nine giant pandas, 13 golden monkeys and 13 antelope.

(People's Daily 08/20/2001)