A Chinese zoologist has called for greater efforts to save the Procapra Przewalskii, a rare antelope species unique to China, from extinction.

Jiang Zhigang, chief research fellow with the zoology institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the most effective method to save the rare animal is to build a protection zone for them.

Jiang pointed out that the less than 150 remaining of the species are quickly depopulating due to increasing human activities, including the construction of highways, the increasing presence of tourists and the fact that grassland is fenced in for grazing domestic animals.

China has six antelope species, the other five of which are Procapra gutturosa, Procapra picticaudata, Gazella subgutturosa, Saiga tatarica and Pantholps hodgnosi.

A typical Procapra Przewalskii is 110 to 120 centimeters long and weighing about 15 kilograms. The animal used to live in the pasture areas of the Inner Mongolia and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Regions, and in Gansu and Qinghai provinces in the past. But now, the animal lives only in areas around Qinghai Lake, the largest saltwater lake in China.

Attacks by wolves is another major threat to the rare antelopes, according to Jiang, who said during his recent month-long on-the- spot investigation he found eight such antelopes became the prey of wolves.

Jiang said inbreeding among such antelopes has also led to their decrease in number.

Researchers at the forestry departments of Qinghai Province have tried artificial breeding to increase the number of such rare antelopes and their efforts are still continuing.

(China Daily March 15, 2003)