On March 1st, it washeard from Shishou Elk State-level Natural Reserve that this year, it would addmore than 200 elks in total, creating a record in history.
When entering into elk reserve,reporter saw from afar that groups of elks played at the riverside. Observingby telescope, the bellies of some female-elks were plump. Zhang Yuming, workerof the reserve, introduced that March to May would be the breeding season ofelks and now it was about to be their peak season of breeding.
At the end of the 19thcentury, elk became extinct in China and only Britain had this kind of speciesall over the world. In 1990s, China and Britain launched “Elk Introduction Major Project”. In 1991, Chinese and Britishscientists had investigations along the elk hometown recorded in the historyand selected Shishou Tianezhou Wetland as the first wildness and releasingbase. Several years later, 94 captive-breeding elks were released here viathree groups.
After 20 years, it is just rightthese 94 elks that have bred the elk group into more than 1,000 in TianezhouWetland, which was reputed by UNESCO as “successful example of globalendangered species protection”. WenHuajun, Head of Shishou Elk State-level Natural Reserve, told reporter that itwas conservatively estimated that elk babies within the reserve would surpass100, probably reaching 120, which would be comparable to the total amount ofAsian elks out of the reserve, and all elk babies would expect to reach 240.
Last year, freezing rain and snow days accounts for the longer. Elks had a bad time in last winter. Wen Huajun said that,it was really not easy to have such kind of gratifying situation. After a groupof elk babies is produced this year, the amount of elks in Shishou will be morethan 1,400, steadily being the largest area of wild elk group in the world.(Reporter: Zhang Lei; Correspondent: Tian Xiaoyan, Cai Jiaqi)