Tracking wild camels with GPS
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E-mail Xinhua, June 28, 2012
Chinese scientists have attached GPS trackers to five wild Bactrian camels living in the deserts of northwest China's Gansu Province and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to trace and better protect the endangered animal, which is much rarer than the giant panda.
![Wild camels. [File photo]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20120628/0014222d9850115660932d.jpg "Wild camels. [File photo]") |
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Wild camels. [File photo] |
Bactrian camels are the last remaining wild camels of any type. Experts estimate that fewer than 1,000 wild Bactrian camels currently live in the harsh deserts of China and Mongolia. The animal is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Liu Shaochuang, a researcher with the Institute of Remote Sensing Applications (IRSA) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said wild Bactrian camels are only known to live in a few areas in northwest China and southwest Mongolia. But the exact population, migration routes and habits remain unclear.
"One way to find out where the wild camels go, where they drink and what kinds of threats they are facing is to utilize the satellite positioning technology, which will help experts draw plans to better protect the wild camels' water sources and define their protection zone," says Liu.
"We can also monitor environmental changes and illegal mining activities within the habitats of the wild camels by studying the satellite remote sensing images."
The scientist, who works in cooperation with two wild camel national nature reserves in Gansu and Xinjiang, entered the Kumtag Desert that borders Gansu and Xinjiang in May and found dozens of wild camels. The largest herd had 36 animals.
Scientists attached GPS trackers on five wild camels that belong to different groups.
Experts say the wild Bactrian camel is the only land animal that can survive by drinking saltwater, which they drink not because they like it, but to avoid humans, who cannot survive in deserts without freshwater.
How wild Bactrian camels get rid of the salt and maintain the water balance in their bodies is an interesting subject for scientists.
That wild camels can adapt to harsh deserts where temperatures fluctuate wildly is a miracle. Another remarkable trait of the wild camels is that they can cry, and they do so to wash the sand from their eyes, not to show their feelings about the severe desert climate.
Compared with domestic camels, wild Bactrian camels, which usually live in herds, have slender bodies, thinner legs and lower pyramid-shaped humps. Their powerful noses can smell humans several kilometers away, helping them make fast escapes.
Yuan Lei, a senior engineer with the Lop Nor Wild Camel National Nature Reserve in Xinjiang, said the wild camels are not given enough attention in China, partly because they look similar to the commonly seen domestic camels.
Actually, wild Bactrian camels are a distant relative of their domestic, two-humped counterparts. The ancestors of the domestic and wild camels diverged as early as 800,000 years ago, said Yuan.
Scientists have found that the DNA of the wild Bactrian camel is 3 percent different from that of the domestic camel, which means the two groups are genetically unique, and belong to separate species. The DNA difference between human and chimpanzee is only 1 percent, and the DNA difference between human and gorilla is 2 percent.
Experts say the wild camel is of great value for genetic research and species preservation.
According to Liu of the IRSA, the five satellite trackers, tailor-made in the United States and Canada, are commonly used in wild animal studies around the world.
"We attached trackers using Globalstar communication satellite to transmit positioning data on the heads of three wild camels, and trackers using the Iridium communication satellite to transmit positioning data on the necks of two wild camels," Liu says.
The trackers on the camels' heads weigh some 300 grams, while those on the camels' necks weigh about 800 grams, Liu said.
"The wild camels definitely don't like wearing the trackers. But it will not cause a lot of trouble in their lives. The battery on the tracker can run for three years, and after that it will drop off naturally," Liu says.
The positioning data sent back over the past month show that the five wild camels have traveled several hundred kilometers around the Kumtag Desert. Some have even traversed the desert from north to south, the scientist said.
The IRSA plans to have more trans-regional cooperation with the Annanba Wild Camel National Nature Reserve in Gansu and the Lop Nor Wild Camel National Nature Reserve in Xinjiang.
"We plan to attach at least 20 satellite trackers on wild camels in different regions. Observations in the larger areas and a longer observation time will help us find out the travel patterns of the wild animals," Liu says.
"During the investigation, we found that humans are very close to the wild camels, and are their main threat. If no effective protection measures are taken immediately, the wild camels might go extinct within 50 years."
A large iron mine is currently being constructed at the northern part of Aerhchin Mountain in southeastern Xinjiang. In order to take a short cut to transport the minerals, a road crossing the core living area of the wild camels was illegally built in Lop Nor, cutting off the wild camels' drinking route, according to Liu.
Moreover, illegal hunting, human exploration activities and wolves are also threatening the wild camels, Liu said.
Tao Liaohan, deputy director of the Annanba Wild Camel National Nature Reserve in Gansu, said water is the biggest problem in the nature reserve. The region has suffered from drought in recent years, and much surface water has dried up. Mining -- both legal and illegal -- requires a large amount of water, further exacerbating the water shortage.
Yuan Lei of the Lop Nor nature reserve is not optimistic about the future of the 500-some wild camels in the nature reserve.
"Since the establishment of the national-level nature reserve in Lop Nor in 2003, people's awareness of protecting the wild camels has improved. However, human activities, especially mining, cause great damage to wild animals," Yuan says.
"The mines in the nature reserve consume precious water resources. Many wild animals, including the wild camels, might die of thirst."
He said protecting the wild camels in their native desert habitat is still the major method undertaken by China, and artificial breeding is regarded as a last resort.
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