Wild camels in the lop nur nature reserve

Abstract

The wild camel (Camelus ferus) is the only surviving species of the genus Camelus. Fewer than 1,000 of these two-humped wild camels survive today in one of the most hostile regions on earth. The wild camel is classified as critically endangered (CR) in the IUCN Redlist and it is one of the top 100 Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species identified by the Zoological Society of London. Two centuries ago, over 10,000 wild camels were once distributed throughout the arid area of Central Asia. Due to human activity and environmental change in the last century, the distributing range of wild camels has been reduced and wild camel populations have decreased rapidly. Lop Nur and its adjacent areas became the last refuge for wild camels. A field survey estimated there were 340–420 wild camels in the Lop Nur area in 1997. A quarter of a century later, we used the line transect method to investigate the whereabouts of wild camels along 14 line transects in the Lop Nur Wild Camel National Nature Reserve (LNWCNNR) during the spring months from 2010 to 2013. According to this four-year observation, the wild camel's density in the Lop Nur area was estimated to be 0.068±0.025/km2 (density ± standard error) and the population size was 638 ± 251, calculated with Distance®. LNWCNNR carried out patrolling and a public education programme, controlled poaching and unauthorised field expeditions in the reserve. LNWCNNR also channeled water from the valley of Arjin mountains to the Gobi for the use of the wild camel. Therefore, the wild camel population in Lop Nur is slowly recovering after more than a decade of protection by the authorities of the LNWCNNR.