--- SEARCH ---
WEATHER
CHINA
INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS
CULTURE
GOVERNMENT
SCI-TECH
ENVIRONMENT
LIFE
PEOPLE
TRAVEL
WEEKLY REVIEW
Learning Chinese
Learn to Cook Chinese Dishes
Exchange Rates
Hotel Service


Hot Links
China Development Gateway
Chinese Embassies
Info
FedEx
China Post
China Air Express
Hospitals in China
Chinese Embassies
Foreign Embassies
Golfing China
China
Construction Bank
People's
Bank of China
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
Travel Agencies
China Travel Service
China International Travel Service
Beijing Youth Travel Service
Links
China Tours
China National Tourism Administration

China Takes Scientific Steps to Protect Rare Antelopes
A project researching the biology of Tibetan antelopes and ways to protect them has been launched atthe Hoh Xil Nature Reserve in northwest China's Qinghai Province.

The biological characteristics of both an individual Tibetan antelope and a whole community can be discovered by studying their numbers, distribution, population structure and habits, according to experts.

Scientists also plan to advance technology for artificially breeding the rare antelopes and disease prevention, in an attempt to breed individual animals artificially.

The Tibetan antelope, an endangered species at the top of China's protection list, is native to the grasslands in and around Qinghai Province, and the Xinjiang Uygur and Tibetan Autonomous Regions and normally lives in mountains at an altitude between 3,200 and 5,000 meters.

The animal is killed illegally to make shawls, called shahtoosh, worth about 10,000 US dollars each on the world market, but at the high price of the lives of three to five Tibetan antelopes.

The number of these antelopes has dropped from several million a century ago to below 70,000 in the past two decades due to extensive poaching and damage to the animals' habitat in the wake of a gold rush.

Cega, director of the Hoh Xil Nature Reserve Management Bureau, said that the government had successfully cracked down on poaching and illegal deals.

Moreover, the provincial government rates the project as a key science research project and has provided a special fund of 1.8 million yuan (about 217,000 US dollars) for the undertaking.

The project is being jointly conducted by the Institute of Northwest Plateau Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the provincial forestry bureau and the Hoh Xil Nature Reserve Management Bureau.

(China Daily Novembe 20, 2002)

Qinghai-Tibet Railway, No Harm to Plateau Ecology
China to Step up Protection of Endangered Wildlife, Plant Species
Volunteers are Sought to Protect Antelopes
Print This Page
|
Email This Page
About Us SiteMap Feedback
Copyright © China Internet Information Center. All Rights Reserved
E-mail: webmaster@china.org.cn Tel: 86-10-68326688