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While many 74-year-old Americans are enjoying their retirement years in the Florida sunshine, Dr George Schaller has chosen a path less traveled for a man of his ripe old age.

 

Together with a team of researchers, Schaller recently embarked on a month-long journey through some of the world's most desolate and unforgiving terrain in search of the chiru.

 

The world-leading biologist has made the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau one of his homes for the past 20 years and has worked with Chinese researchers to discover the mysteries of Tibetan's distinctive wildlife, especially the chiru.

 

"A century ago, at least a million chiru probably roamed the uplands. By the mid-1990s, possibly no more than 75,000 remained," Schaller said.

 

About a decade ago, Schaller was the first scientist to uncover the link between the chiru and shahtoosh, one of the world's most expensive wools. The animal's coveted fleece had contributed to its mass slaughter, and it was almost wiped out.

 

Since the late 1990s, protection plans were set up, and harsh penalties were put in place for chiru poaching. The results are very encouraging.

 

Schaller and the team counted nearly 9,000 chirus in northern Chang Tang, of the Tibet Autonomous Region, and Hoh Xil, in Qinghai Province, an indication the species was in good shape.

 

Schaller, a member of the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), said China had done a great job drawing attention to the chiru's problem and protecting it.

 

"I'm not worried about the future of the chirus," he said.

 

Schaller has made expeditions in Chang Tang, as well as in neighboring Qinghai Province and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

 

Historical journey

 

Dr George Schaller discusses the traversing route of

the expedition with other team members.

  

Recently, WCS's vice-president of science and exploration, together with a dozen Chinese researchers and conservationists, traversed through no-man's land in northern Chang Tang and Hoh Xil in Qinghai Province.

 

Leaving the highway from Lhasa to Ngari Prefecture in Rutog County on October 29, they completed the crossover in four-wheel drives.

 

They reached the Hoh Xil part of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway on November 23, which is also the boundary between Keke Xili (Hoh Xil) National Nature Reserve and Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve in Qinghai. "The straight distance is about 1,250 kilometers," said Schaller. The team continued a detour trip through the Sanjiangyuan reserve until December 16.

 

It was the first successful journey through the northern Chang Tang and Hoh Xil since 1896 when two British explorers made a similar journey on horseback, Schaller said.

 

"During the first half of the expedition, our major work was to survey the wildlife," he said.

 

"The local forestry department of Tibet wanted to know how many chirus there were and also other wildlife numbers in northern Chang Tang.

 

"No one had ever checked this area before in winter time."

 

In Qinghai, they also promoted conservation awareness among local nomadic communities living in the Sanjiangyuan reserve. "In this trip, we visited three of China's biggest nature reserves," he said.

 

Funded by the WCS and the National Geographic Society, the expedition also attracted participants from WCS China Office, Peking University, the Tibet Institute of Plateau Biology, the Tibet Forestry Department, Keke Xili and Sanjiangyuan nature reserves.

 

The primary survey methodology was to count every animal that came into view, Schaller said. "We saw a total of 8,905 chirus along the way," Schaller said. "But there were certainly more beyond the stretch of land we drove through."

 

Kang Aili, a biologist with the WCS China Office, said they were surprised to find so many chirus staying in northern Chang Tang instead of migrating south for the winter.

 

"The mating season is now for the chirus, and they obviously mated there," Schaller said. "Where they will go to breed, I have no idea."

 

Other wildlife were also included in the survey, and the team counted about 700 wild yaks in the northern part of Hoh Xil.

 

Less than 300 wild yaks were seen in northern Chang Tang, because the land was very barren.

 

"That part of Hoh Xil is perhaps the last great wild yak area in China, because the steppe habitat is much better for wild yaks, and almost no nomadic yaks live there, and there is no problem of interbreeding (between wild yaks and domestic yaks)."

 

During the trip to the Sanjiangyuan reserve, the expedition team visited the area near Gyring Lake and Ngoring Lake, where the 1896 British explorers recorded seeing wildlife, including chirus and wild yaks.

 

"The whole area was almost empty, and we did not see much wildlife," he said.

 

After talking with the local nomads, researchers believe the drop in wildlife numbers might have be caused by serious snow storms in 1985 and heavy poaching in the 1990s.

 

Besides chirus and wild yaks, Schaller and his colleagues only recorded about 1,900 kiang, or Tibetan wild donkeys.

 

Kiang mostly live in southern Chang Tang, because "in the north, there is almost nothing to eat."

 

The team counted nearly 3,000 Tibetan gazelles, mainly in the Sanjiangyuan reserve.

 

Another creature of interest was the wolf. The team counted 45. "In some really remote areas, they showed no fear of people," Schaller said. "One of them even wandered into our campsite to investigate."

 

Schaller did not see any negative impact from the newly completed Qinghai-Tibet Railway. "There are so many underground passes along the railroad, which animals can go and do go through," he said.

 

The real problem, he said, was the Qinghai-Tibet Highway. "There are so many trucks running day and night," he said. "Animals hesitated to cross."

 

The scientist was impressed by the "remarkable" conservation initiatives carried out by a few isolated nomadic communities in Qinghai Province.

 

At Cuochi Village, Qumalai Township, in Qumalai County in Qinghai, villagers have reserved a large stretch of mountainous area for wild yaks and organized their own patrol to protect the animals living there. "They would launch four patrols a year, once for every three months, to the area to protect and monitor the animal," Kang Aili said.

 

The Qumalai Township, which is in the source area of the Yangtze River, also decided to reserve a river basin for the chirus.

 

"The Bailu River Basin is a long stretch of land, with the length of nearly 100 kilometers and the width of about 50 kilometers and has decent grasslands," Kang said.

 

"As the villagers decided to allow no livestock grazing there, you can see chirus there. We saw over 300 in an afternoon."

 

The villagers know their future depends on their land, Schaller said, and wanted to protect their future.

 

"If every village and every township on the Tibetan plateau and elsewhere had similar initiatives considering environment now, in the future, there will be few problems," he said.

 

(China Daily January 16, 2007)