Rare crane sees population growth on Qinghai-Tibet plateau

The population of endangered black-necked cranes has been growing steadily over the past three decades on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau.

In Longbao nature reserve in northwest China's Qinghai Province, the number of black-necked cranes has increased from 22 in 1984 when the reserve was founded to 216 this year.

The state-level reserve covers 10,000 hectares, at an altitude of 4,200 meters. Black-necked cranes are the main protected species.

"The poaching of the 1990s has almost disappeared through surveillance and the wide participation of local herders in conservation," said Purbu, deputy head of a station on the reserve, who has worked here for 26 years.

In neighboring Tibet, the population of the rare crane has increased from less than 3,000 in 1995 to around 7,000 this year, said a senior regional forestry official.

Of the 15 crane species in the world, the black-necked variety was the last to be identified as they mainly move between the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.

In 1876, a Russian explorer chanced upon the crane at Qinghai Lake, northwest China's Qinghai Province, and published news of his sighting. Endi