Endangered Przewalski's gazelle population increases

The population of endangered Przewalski's gazelle has recovered to more than 1,200 after 20 years of protection. In the mid-1990s, the population around Qinghai Lake, the last stronghold of the species, was only about 300.

According to the administration of wildlife and nature reserves in Qinghai Province, the Przewalski's gazelle population is growing by about 80 each year following a ban on hunting and better protection of environment.

The gazelle still faces a fight for survival with barbed wire fences stretched across its native grassland. "The fences have shrunk and fragmented their habitat," Namgyal, an environmental volunteer, told Xinhua: "Migrating gazelle cannot jump over the high fences and herdsmen find some killed or injured by the barbed wire every year."

In addition to fences, Przewalski's gazelle faces food shortages, inbreeding and degraded grassland, according to Jiang Zhigang with the Chinese Academy of Sciences institute of zoology.

The gazelle is believed to be the most endangered hoofed mammal in the world. It was named after the Russian explorer who collected a specimen and took it back to St. Petersburg in 1875.

Once found in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Gansu Province, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province, the gazelle is now found only around Qinghai Lake. Endi