Population of endangered gazelles expands in NW China

There are now more than 1,400 Przewalski's gazelle, a species even more endangered than the giant panda, living around a lake in northwest China's Qinghai Province, its only habitat.

According to a survey by Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve, there were 1,464 gazelle living around the lake, around 200 more than the number recorded last year.

He Yubang, with the reserve, said the survey, which was conducted in August, recorded 324 fawns born this year and 1,140 older gazelle, consisting of 445 males and 695 females.

"This is a record high since our surveys began," He said.

Years of protection has seen the gazelle population quadruple in the past 20 years and lowered its status on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species from "critically endangered" to "endangered."

The local government has set up watering places and supplied foraging food in the winter, and dismantled barbed wire fences, once used to restrict the movement of livestock and mark ownership of the grassland.

The sharp, barbed fences have killed many of the gazelle's in the past, as the animals tried to jump them.

The provincial forestry authorities tore down 515,000 meters of fencing or barbed wire across four counties around the lake from 2009 to 2015 and lowering the height of the remaining fences from 1.5 meters to 1.2 meters. Endi