The swan population in the Bayanbulak grasslands, in northwest
China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is rising thanks to local
awareness of the need to protect this rare bird.
The number of swans wintering over on the grasslands has continued
to rise in recent years, and it exceeded 1,000 last winter, said
Abdul Rahmanan, an official with the forestry bureau of the
region's Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Bayinggolin.
However, every year, more than 10,000 swans spend just half the
year from April at the lakes of the Bayanbulak grasslands, China's
second largest grassland area, before flying over the Himalayas,
the highest mountain range in the world, to India or even South
Africa to pass the winter.
Abdul Rahmanan said local Mongolian villagers treated the swans as
distinguished guests because swans in their culture represented
"luck" and "happiness".
Meanwhile, even in winter, the grasslands still had plenty of
pasture, which provided food, while swans gradually became
accustomed to the grasslands' cold weather with temperatures of
minus 30 degrees centigrade, he said.
There are seven species of swan in the world, three of which live
in China and can be seen in the Bayanbulak grasslands, which cover
an area of over 20,000 square kilometers. The Bayanbulak Swan Lake
is the first and largest wild swan natural protected zone in
China.
(Xinhua News Agency April 10, 2003)