Przewalski's Gazelle - Procapra przewalskii

Has been considered a subspecies of Procapra Picticaudata but species is unanimously agreed. Genetic analysis shows the taxon is closer to the Mongolian Gazelle P. gutturosa than to P. picticaudata. The Przewalski’s gazelle was named after Nikolai Przewalski, a Russian explorer and colonel in the Russian army, who collected a specimen and brought it back to St. Petersburg in 1875.

The animal is yellowish brown with white spots on its rump, with a body length of 100 cm, tail of 7-10 cm and a weight of around 21-32 kg. Males are the only ones that bear antlers, which bend inwards at the tips.

Habitat

Przewalski's gazelle inhabits steppe plateaux and open valleys, including broken and undulating terrain of stabilised dunes containing steppe vegetation.

The preferred diet is sedge, grass, and other plants. Przewalski's gazelle selectively grazes the tender tips of grasses and sedges and also feeds on legumes, such as Astragalus spp., which are said to be poisonous to livestock.

Reproduction and Group structure

The gazelle usually travels in groups of around 10 or so and larger ones in the winter. The rut takes place in the autumn. Males roar, chase, and challenge each other when competing for females but there is rarely serious fighting.

Przewalski's gazelle calf few hours old

Females give birth in mid-June, normally to a single young.

Little knowledge exists of predation on Przewalski's gazelles, presumably wolves and dogs.

There are no direct observations that wolves killed Przewalski's gazelles. Based on skeletons findings it was presumed that they were killed and eaten by wolves, because the wolf (besides the dog) is the only animal in the region strong enough to kill gazelles. People in the region have only witnessed wolves killing domestic animals.

Planned further analysis of wolf scats will answer the question if wolves have eaten Przewalski horses but not if they have actually killed them.

Due to intensive fencing, there is a higher probability that wolves manage to kill Przewalski's gazelles against the fences, and thus can wolf predation have a more negative effect then under natural circumstances.

Also about the trend of the population little is known. About 350 Przewalski's gazelle remained in 1986 and only about 200 in 1994.

According to local people > 1,000 gazelles lived in the Daotonghe River drainage. This population is now surrounded by human settlements. Because the moraine region has good, highly productive pastures and good water sources, it has been fenced by landowners to increase livestock productivity in recent years.

A thorough survey in September 2003 estimated a population of 500-600, an increase from earlier estimates. Subsequent work by IOZ, WCS, and others have confirmed this figure and revised it upwards to 700-800. There is a possibility that the total could be even higher.

However due to major threats the population is declining and at risk.

Gazelles on the eastern shore of Qinghai Lake have been fenced out of their main feeding grounds since 1994, and the population on the western shore declined from 37 to seven between 1992 and 1998 and the two populations on the eastern shore numbered 51 and 56 in 1997.

No records of Przewaslki's gazelles in captivity have been found.

• China

• Mongolia

Procapra przewalskii - Przewalski's Gazelle: Current distribution
Source: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

Current distribution Przewalski's Gazelle
Source: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

Przewalski's gazelle is endemic to North-western China where it is known to have occurred in three areas: the western part of the Ordos Plateau in Inner Mongolia; the western Yellow Soil Plateau in Gansu; and the vicinity of Qinghai Hu Lake and the Koko Nor Plateau in Qingha. Details of the former range are poorly known.

Confined to six isolated subpopulations around Qinghai lake:

• Bird island on the western side
• Shadao-Gahai and
• Hudong-Ketu on the east
• Yuanzhe on the south-east
• near Gonghe across the mountains on the south side of the lake and
• west of Tianjun, about 20 km north-west of the lake.

The last two subpopulations were discovered in 2003, during surveys by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Science's NW Institute of Plateau Biology and Institute of Zoology. Subsequent studies have confirmed that they represent separate subpopulations and not instance of nomadic groups moving around the area.

Habitat loss

Most of their habitat has been lost to the increasing human population, farming activities, and desertification. Predation by wolves (Canis lupus), especially in areas of dense fencing, appears to also be having a negative impact. Subpopulations are quite isolated and movement between them is increasingly difficult owing to intensive land use and physical barriers.

Human density has increased since the 1950s with consequent increases in livestock numbers and area of farmland. This has reduced feeding habitat availability for the gazelle and high juvenile mortality.

The few remaining gazelles have to compete with more then 3 million domestic livestock. The people who live in the Przewalski gazelle's range are completely dependent on herding. Over-grazing is causing desertification and barbed-wire fences now criss-cross the plateau, creating artificial barriers.

Poaching

Poaching remains a concern even though the Przewalski's gazelle is protected by law as a Category I species in China. There are several new Forest Police posts within the remaining area of distribution. One subpopulation occurs in Bird Island (Niao Dao) national Nature Reserve. Although wardens patrol the reserve, most of the human resources are allocated to the protection of breeding birds in summer rather than anti-poaching efforts for gazelles.

It is considered to be an endangered species by the IUCN. Formerly, it was believed that as few as 250 remained, it was considered critically endangered species by the IUCN. However, this is now believed to be an underestimate (among other due to two sub-populations only discovered in 2003).

Latest estimates of numbers, taking into account the most recently discovered populations, suggest the number of mature individuals is 700 - 800 and possibly even higher, thus raising the species above the threshold for Critically Endangered under criterion C1 as used previously.

Revised assessment as EN C2a(i) is based on the number of mature individuals < 2.500, population declining, and no subpopuation contains > 250 mature individuals. However, overall population size remains small and is not far from the CR threshold; subpopulations are isolated and still face a set of threats. Thus the conservation situation remains serious and regular monitoring of numbers and population trends is essential.

The species is now regarded as a conservation priority by national and provincial governments.

• IUCN Red list of threatened species

• Legal aspects of (Re-)introduction of large herbivores

• Large herbivores on the move
• Status report 2007 of the large herbivores of the palaeartic

Protected by law as a Category I species in China. There are several new Forest Police posts within the remaining area of distribution and illegal hunting is no longer an important factor.

One subpopulation occurs in Bird Island (Niao Dao) National Nature Reserve. The species is now regarded as a conservation priority by national and provincial governments.

• Maintain or increase strict law enforcement against poaching.
• Gain political support to halt further habitat degradation and restore part of its former range/habitat.

Take down fences, so animals become less vulnerable to wolf predation. Killing wolves is not the answer for the long term survival of the species.

Start a captive breeding program, in close co-operation with the ZOO-world.

Human Dimension study followed by a campaign to generate more appreciation for the speciesby local people and authorities.

Start in-situ and ex-situ co-operation on the Przewalski gazelle.

Inventory of the barriers for all subpopulations.

Continue field surveys to monitor the population.

More research on the ecology of the species and spatial use of its range.