SW China brings in endangered crested ibis for artificial breeding

Experts in southwest China's Sichuan Province have brought in 50 crested ibis to establish a breeding program for the endangered bird, authorities said Thursday.

The birds are from Henan, Zhejiang and Shaanxi provinces, and are being kept in a farm in Leshan City, the provincial forestry department said.

Xiong Tieyi, expert with Sichuan Provincial Academy of Natural Resources Sciences, said researchers will work to expand the population of the bird using artificial hatching and brooding.

The birds will be released into the wild after training, he said.

Long Tinglun, engineer with the forestry department, said the crested ibis have high requirements for their habitat, and Sichuan provides an ideal ecological environment for the birds to live and breed.

Once common in Japan, China, Russia and the Korean Peninsula, zoologists thought the crested ibis became extinct in the first half of the 20th century. But in 1981, seven crested ibis were found in Shaanxi's Yangxian County.

During the past three decades, the population of crested ibis in China has grown from seven to more than 2,000 due to conservation efforts by the government and academic institutions. Endit