They found that after leaving Mori, some of the young birds would join the breeding flocks in other areas the next year. "That means possible gene exchange between different breeding groups," Yang says.

The houbaras typically lay eggs twice during their breeding season between mid-April and July. In Mori, Yang and his colleagues once even found a record six eggs in a houbara nest, which typically have three or four.

Since 2008, Yang and his team have launched another project to survey and monitor the houbaras in the country with $500,000 from UAE. Under the project, they will make two regular surveys a year at the Mori site till 2012.

In spring and early autumn, they will go to Mori, count the birds, record the numbers of their predators like foxes and buzzards and observe the changing of their habitats.

"Such data is important, especially in the light of joint cooperation by China and UAE to build a breeding center in Mori," Yang says. "With the hunting tradition deeply rooted in Arab culture, UAE's investment in captive breeding is certainly a big step in the protection of the houbara and the restoration of its numbers."

According to the ecologist, NARC started breeding attempts in 1993 with donated birds. It was aimed at re-stocking the depleted populations for hunting and falcon training.

Between 2006 and 2007, UAE invested in and built a large breeding center in Kazakhstan.

The numbers of the bird in China is one of the healthiest, with the highest average number of eggs at a nest - 3.8 eggs - and the longest migratory route - up to 7,000 km.

But the overgrazing, mining and fencing of steppes have destroyed the birds' habitats in the country.

"Even though a breeding center would certainly help restore numbers, you need to find enough habitats to re-introduce them in the wild," Yang says.