A Chinese zoologist said fewer than 15,000 wild yaks live on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the only habitat of the rare animal.

Liu Wulin, president of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Forestry Prospecting and Designing Institute, cited an investigation by Chinese and American zoologists over the past dozen years.

Wild yaks are 1.6 to 2.2 meters long and weigh 1,000 kilograms. Most wild yaks live in the desert, at an elevation of 4,000 to 6,100 meters, of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, often called "the roof of the world."

Li said approximately 7,000 to 7,500 yaks live in the Qiangtang region in northern Tibet and more than 1,000 live elsewhere in Tibet. He said the neighboring Qinghai Province has approximately 2,200 yaks and approximately 2,000 to 2,500 yaks live in the Altun Mountain Nature Reserve in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which also borders Tibet.

Liu said, the total number of wild yaks will not exceed 15,000 in the world.

Liu said, the number of wild yaks has reduced drastically over the past century due to excessive poaching and increased human activities in the yak's habitats. He called for urgent efforts to protect the wild animals from extinction.

(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2005)