Experts discover Gobi bears in China for the first time

(ECNS)-- Experts from the Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF) recently made the first-ever discovery of Gobi bears (Ursus arctos gobiensis) in Yiwu County, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, according to the third scientific expedition project to Xinjiang organized by CAF.

Experts suggested further investigations on the population and habitat of the Gobi bears in Yiwu County and its surrounding areas to confirm the bears’ distribution in China. They also recommended strengthening habitat protection and engaging in transnational joint protection efforts for the endangered species.

Xue Yadong, associate researcher of the Ecology and Nature Conservation Institute (ENCI) affiliated to CAF, said his team collected photos and videos of a suspected Gobi bear from the Yiwu forestry and grassland department.

Morphological identification, along with verification by administrators from the Great Gobi Strictly Protected Area-Zone A (GGSPAA) in Mongolia and Gobi bear experts from Mongolian research institutions, confirmed the animal as a Gobi bear.

Jin Kun, deputy director of the ENCI, introduced that a Gobi bear is a subspecies or population of a brown bear, and the only bear species living in the Gobi Desert.

known as a national treasure by Mongolia, it holds a status similar to the giant panda in China, with only over 50 individuals remaining in the GGSPAA, making it critically endangered.

The area at Yiwu County, which borders Mongolia’s protected zone, has similar natural conditions to the Gobi bear's habitat, offering a suitable environment for their survival. With strong local efforts in ecological and wildlife protection, Yiwu County has become a key corridor for the migration of Gobi bears.

Due to global climate change, the survival conditions for the Gobi bears in Mongolia are becoming increasingly difficult. As a typical case of the Belt and Road Initiative in biodiversity protection cooperation, the protection of the Gobi bears was included in the Medium- to Long-term Development Guideline for China-Mongolia Strategic Partnership in 2013.

Since August 2018, the ENCI has undertaken technical assistance project for the Gobi bear in Mongolia of China's Ministry of Commerce.