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)
