A species of highland antelope native to China, Procapra Przewalskii, is close to extinction and must receive urgent protection, said two Chinese wildlife specialists.

"At present only about 300 Procapra Przewalskii still exist in the world," the pair reported after completing a special research project on the animal. The antelope were all concentrated in the Lake Qinghai area of northwest China.

Jiang Zhigang, a research fellow at the Institute of Zoology with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Dr. Li Diqiang, a researcher with a doctor's degree working with the Wildlife Research and Development Center of the State Forestry Administration, went to the Lake Qinghai area together to complete the Procapra Przewalskii study.

To effectively protect the rare animal from extinction, the first task was to establish a protection zone in its habitat and put some antelope into an artificial breeding program, they said.

"One animal species represents one unique gene bank, which may contain genes beneficial to human life. If Procapra Przewalskii disappears from this planet before relevant research work is done, we would lose a precious gene bank forever," said Li.

"This would be a great pity for China, for the world and mankind," Li said.

Named after the Russian naturalist Przewalskii, Procapra Przewalskii has been listed as a highly endangered species by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and China.

(Xinhua News Agency July 22, 2002)