Dubbed the "King of the Gobi,'' the wild bactrian camels of China are apparently a unique variety among their species, contributing unique genetic qualities to the animal kingdom, scientists now believe.

Genetic tests on animal remains show significant variations between wild bactrian or double-humped camels and their domesticated cousins, said Yuan Guoying, a researcher with Xinjiang Environmental Protection Institute.

Yuan spoke at a seminar on wild camel protection on Friday in Beijing.

Mainly living in the Lop Nur Nature Reserve in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the wild camels are among China's most endangered wild animal species.

"Scientists doing genetic testing have found a 3 percent difference in the (gene marker) base pairs between domesticated and these wild bactrian camels,'' Yuan said. "You have to remember that there is only 1.6-1.7 percent difference between man and chimpanzees. So these wild camels may be a different species never before rounded up by humans.”

Wild double-humped camels only live in three regions -- the middle of the Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang, an area bordering China and Mongolia, and the Lop Nur region, experts with the Lop Nur Nature Reserve said.

Scientists believe that the number of wild camels in the world is between 730 and 880, making it a critically endangered animal. An estimated 400 to 500 of them live in the Lop Nur area.

The 150,000-square-kilometer Lop Nur area was used by China for nuclear weapons testing. It has been off limits to people since 1955.

However, since 1996 when tests ended, miners and hunters have been placing land mines around the camels’ salty watering holes to kill the mammals for meat, said Wei Shanfeng, director of Xinjiang Environment Protection Bureau.

An board of experts was formed on Friday to provide plans to better protect wild camels and the unique desert eco-system in Lop Nur reserve.

The reserve debuted in June 2003 with the help of State Environment Protection Administration, United Nations Environment Program and the Global Environment Facility.

In 1998, the Global Environment Facility put US$750,000 into a three-year research project on wild camels in Lop Nur area.

More money is needed, however, to protect the wild animals from poachers and to keep them undisturbed for biodiversity.

Miners and herdsmen who take the animals are often ignorant to the animal's plight, or simply do not care about the fate of the species, Wei indicated.

(China Daily January 10, 2004)