Compared with the giant panda, the Procapra Przewalskii, a species of highland antelope in northwestern China, is even closer to extinction.

After completing a special research project on the wildlife which is native to China, two Chinese wildlife specialists say only about 300 Procapra Przewalskii are still around today. They are now concentrated in three areas around the Qinghai Lake in northwest China, but no longer are found in their former habitats of Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Gansu.

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 Qinghai Lake area together to completethe Procapra Przewalskii study.

"There are still nearly 1,500 giant pandas in existence," said Dr. Li Diqiang. "In this sense, Procapra Przewalskii is even more precious than the giant panda."

According to the two specialists, Procapra Przewalskii numbers have been declining because of poaching, shrinking habitats as more grasslands are modified, and wolf predation.

Some specialists predict that if the current trend continues, Procapra Przewalskii will be extinct within 50 to 100 years.

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

( People's Daily July 14, 2002 )