We may find new speices of the camel family!

Looks There is no difference not much with it and existing bactrian camel. But, between two humps is a little separated, and hair in the knees is rich. It seems because it does't sit down like livestock. Wild two humped-camel(figure imagined although it was not) -> Two humped is separated. There is much hair in the knees. A face is atrocious. Man is attacked by the sharp molar.

---puotation from "UNEP(the United Nations Environment Programme) Homepage----

NAIROBI, February 6, 2001- A new species of camel may have been discovered in a "lost world" of salty sand dunes on the edge of the Tibetan mountains. Experts estimate that the total population in Asia numbers less than 1,000 mak ing them more endangered than the Giant Panda. Genetic tests on animal remains, collected on expeditions by a Chinese-British team, have found significant variation between these newly discovered wild ba ctrian or "two humped" camels and their domesticated �@cousins. John Hare, the joint expedition leader and founder of the Wild Camel Protectio n Foundation whose work has been supported by the United Nations Environment P rogramme (UNEP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), said yesterday: "Th e scientists doing the genetic tests have found a three per cent difference in the base pairs between the domesticated and these wild bactrian camels." "You have to remember that there is only a five per cent difference between ma n and chimpanzees. So these wild camels may be a different species never domes ticated by humans," said Mr Hare, whose foundation is based in Benenden, Kent. The wild camels, which were found in the middle of the inhospitable and danger ous Kum Tagh sand dunes in China's Xinjiang province, are also adapted to survive on salt water bubbling up from beneath the desert, the team were astonished to discover. Kate Rae, a trustee of the foundation whose patron is the world renowned chimp anzee expert Dr Jane Goodall, said yesterday: "These camels can withstand enormous physiological stress. Scientists are extremely interested to know how the ir liver, kidneys and lungs can withstand the salt without killing these wild camels". The foundation, which is working with the Chinese State Environment Protection Administration (SEPA) with funding from UNEP through the GEF to establish a r eserve to be known as the Arjin Shan Lop Nur Nature Reserve, claim urgent acti on is needed to save the animals from poachers. The area in which they live was used by China for nuclear weapons testing and has been, since 1955, a no go area for people. But tests were ended there in 1996 and there has been an influx of miners and hunters some of whom have been sowing land mines around the camels' salty wate r holes. Mr Hare said: "The remoteness of the area has helped preserve these camels. Th e fact that people were not allowed in by the Chinese government has also help ed them survive. But with the cessation of nuclear tests, illegal hunters and miners looking for gold and iron ore are moving in. We found land mines put by the salt water springs. So when the camels come to drink they step on them, b ang. They are blown to pieces and picked up as meat". News of the discovery was released today at the 21st session of UNEP's Governi ng Council where ministers from close to 100 countries are meeting at its head quarters in Nairobi. On the agenda are a range of pressing issues ranging from how to protect vulne rable populations against the impact of climate related natural disasters, the need to strengthen environmental laws in emerging economies to the impact of globalisation on native, indigenous, cultures. UNEP's work programme and its need for better financing to help it meet the en vironmental challenges of the new millennium are also taking centre stage. Klaus Topfer, Executive director of UNEP, said: "I am delighted that we have b een able to play a role in these new wildlife discoveries. We have many respon sibilities but these include helping protect the world's animals and plants. T he discovery of these camels underlines that the natural world still has many secrets and surprises which enrich our knowledge of the earth and our understa nding of nature". It is estimated, based on surveys and interviews with local herdsmen, that the population of wild camels in China number just 600. A further 300 are estimated to be in Mongolia's Gobi Desert. Only 15 known individuals are held in captivity. The Prjewalkoi horse of Mongolia, which became extinct in 1969 in the wild, wa s saved through a captive breeding programme because there were 500 individual s in zoos and private collections. They are currently being re-introduced back into Mongolia. "If these wild camels become extinct then we do not have the numbers or the ge netic diversity among those in captivity to guarantee a successful captive bre eding programme. That makes them more endangered than the Giant Panda," said M r Hare. The wild Bactrian camel is currently ranked as highly endangered on the Intern ational Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List but experts think ther e may be an argument for listing the species as "critically endangered", the h ighest ranking of threat for a species. Robert Hepworth, a senior biodiversity official in UNEP said: " These wild cam els are probably a unique species, and the two range states of China and Mongo lia have a unique opportunity to preserve this species for posterity. UNEP, GE F and the world conservation community are already playing their part by suppo rting protection programmes. Yet more needs to be done, for example by increas ing the protection available to the species through treaties such as the UNEP Conventions on Biodiversity and Migratory Species. "When people think about charismatic wildlife, they too often tend to think ab out animals like the tiger or the cheetah. But these camels may well be as special in the natural world as these other, better known, rare and endangered species," he said. UNEP, working with the GEF, has put $750,000 into the establishment of the new reserve and public awareness programmes. UNEP also spent one million and six hundred and fifty thousand dollars in 1979 to assist the Mongolian government in creating the Great Gobi Reserve which i s helping to protect wild Bactrian camels there from predation by wolves and o ther threats. Funding for the Chinese reserve has so far led to the setting up of five check points to police people entering the Arjin Shan Lop Nur Wild Camel Reserve. The foundation estimates that ten more check points are needed to secure the v ast reserve which, despite being 150,000 square kilometers in size or one and a quarter the size of Poland, has only 15 roads or entry points into it. The team leading the DNA, genetic tests, on the wild camels are hoping to publ ish their results soon. The scientists are led by Professor Han Jianlin, a molecular geneticist from G ansu Agricultural University in China and Professor Olivier Hanotte, another m olecular geneticist from the International Livestock Research Institute in Nai robi, Kenya. Dr Hanotte said yesterday: "There is indeed genetic variation between the wild and domesticated two humped camel. There are two possibilities here. One is that the domestic camel was bred from these wild ones sometime back in history. So when we look these wild camels found in China we may be looking at the ancestor of the domestic camel rather like wolves are the ancestor of dogs". " The second possibility is that the domestic camel we see today was bred from another species that has disappeared. This would mean that these wild camels found by the expedition in China and the population in Mongolia are a totally separate species," he said. The scientists believe that it may be possible to cross breed these wild camel s with domestic ones to improve their genetic stock and to endow them with the ability to live in harsh environments with only salty water.

UNEP Homepage http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?DocumentID=192&ArticleID=2762 Asahi.com http://www.asahi.com/0206/news/international06014.html