Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T00:04:35.505Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Population declines of Przewalski's gazelle around Qinghai Lake, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2009

Zhigang Jiang ,
Diqiang Li  and
Zuwang Wang
Diqiang Li
Affiliation:
Institute of Forestry Environment and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China100080.
Zuwang Wang
Affiliation:
Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China100080.
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Przewalski's gazelle Procapra przewalskii is endemic to China and is classified as Critically Endangered by IUCN—The World Conservation Union. Historically, the species occurred in parts of the provinces of Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Qinghai but now appears to be restricted to three populations around Qinghai Lake. These three populations— Bird Island, Hudong–Ketu and Yuanzhe—have all declined since 1988. The populations have been monitored since 1994 and the smallest, on Bird Island, appears to be on the brink of extinction, with only seven individuals being recorded in 1998. In the same year, the Hudong–Ketu population comprised 56 individuals (29.4 per cent males, 50 per cent females and 21 per cent juveniles) and the Yuanzhe population 51 individuals (29.4 per cent males, 43.1 per cent females and 27.5 per cent juveniles). The causes of the declines vary for each population but include loss of habitat as a result of desertification, poaching and, possibly, wolf predation. Human activity and high juvenile mortality are major threats to the continued survival of the gazelle. Conservation measures proposed are: (i) the establishment of a special reserve for Przewalski's gazelle; (ii) a study of the wolf-gazelle relationship and control of the number of wolves if necessary; (iii) a search for remnant populations of Przewalski's gazelle in other regions in their historical range and the identification of suitable sites for translocation and establishment of new populations.

Keywords

ChinaconservationgazelleProcapraprzewalskiithreatened species
Type
Research Article
Information
Oryx , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , April 2000 , pp. 129 - 135
Copyright
Copyright © Fauna and Flora International 2000

References

Allen, G.M. (1940) The Mammals of China and Mongolia. Part 2. American Museum of Natural History, New York.Google Scholar
Boyd, D.K., Ream, R.R., Pletscher, D.H. & Fairchild, M.W. (1994) Prey taken by colonizing wolves and hunters in the Glacier National Park. Journal of Wildlife Management, 58, 289–295.Google Scholar
Cai, G., Liu, Y., Feng, Z., Lin, Y., Gao, X. & Zhao, J. (1992) Reports on mammals in certain regions of the Qinghai Province. Ada Plateau Biologia Sinica, 11, 63–90 ]in Chinese with English summary].Google Scholar
Corbet, G.B. (1978) The Mammals of the Palaearctic Region: A Taxonomic Review. British Museum (Natural History), London.Google Scholar
Ellerman, J.R. & Morrison–Scott, T.C.S. (1951) Checklist of Palaearctic and Indian Mammals. British Museum (Natural History), london.Google Scholar
Groves, C.P. (1967) On the gazelles of the genus Procapra Hodgson, 1846. Zeitschrift Saugetierkunde, 32, 144–149.Google Scholar
Honacki, J.H., Kinman, K.E. & Koeppl, J.W. (1982) Mammal Species of the World. Allen Press and Association of Systematics Collections, Lawrence, KS.Google Scholar
ICUN (1996) 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland.Google Scholar
Jiang, Z. & Wang, S. (in press) China. In Antelopes. Global Survey and Regional Action Plans. Part 4(eds Mallon, D. P. and Kingwood, S. C.). IUCN, Gland.Google Scholar
Jiang, Z., Feng, Z. & Wang, Z. (1996a) Przewalski's gazelle in China. Conservation Biology, 13, 324–325.Google Scholar
Jiang, Z., Gao, Z. & Sun, Y. (1996b) Current status of antelopes in China, journal of Northeast Forestry University (English edn), 7, 58–62Google Scholar
Jiang, Z., Feng, Z., Wang, Z., Chen, L., Cai, P. & Li, Y. (1994) Saving the Przewalski's gazelle. Species, 23, 59–60.Google Scholar
Jiang, Z., Feng, Z., Wang, Z., Chen, L., Cai, P. & Li, Y. (1995) Historical and current distributions of the Przewalski's gazelle. Acta Theriological Sinica,15, 241–245 [in Chinese with English summary]Google Scholar
Li, D. (1989) Economic Fauna of the Qinghai Province. Qinghai People's Press, Xining, Qinghai, China [in Chinese].Google Scholar
Scheel, D. (1993) Watching for the lion in the grass: the usefulness of scanning and its effects during hunting. Animal Behaviour, 46, 695–704.Google Scholar
Stroganov, S.U. (1949) On the systematics and distribution of some antelopes of central Asia. Byulleten Moskovskogo Obshchestva ispytatelei prirody. Otdeknie Biologii, 54, 15–26 [in Russian].Google Scholar
Tao, X. (1988) The formation and development of the Qinghai Lake and environmental change. In Collection of Research Papers on the Quaternary Glacier and Quaternary Geology, vol. 5 (ed. The Quaternary Glacier and Quaternary Geology Commission, Chinese Society of Geology), pp. 100–105. Geological Press, Beijing [in Chinese].Google Scholar
Wang, X. & Schaller, G. (1996) Status of large mammals in western Inner Mongolia, China, journal of East China Normal University, Natural Science, Special issue of Zoology, 12, 93–104.Google Scholar