China, Nepal to protect endangered one-horned rhino

China and Nepal will conduct joint research to protect endangered onehorned Asiatic rhinos, China announced Wednesday.

The two pairs of rhinos Nepal gave to China represent the Nepalese people’s deep affection for Chinese people, and the project to protect them will be the embodiment of friendship between China and Nepal, said Li Chunliang, deputy administrator of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration (SFGA) at the launch of the China-Nepal Rhinoceros Conservation Collaborative Research in Shanghai on Wednesday.

The Nepalese government gave China two pairs of rhinos after the two countries signed a memorandum in June.

The rhinos, an 800-kilogram male and a 600-kilogram female, were placed in the Shanghai Wild Animal Park, according to a statement sent by Wang Libin, a publicity official at the forestry association, to the Global Times on Wednesday.

The other pair, Bhadra, male, and Rupasi, female, were transported to the Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou, capital city of South China’s Guangdong Province.

Nepalese Ambassador to China Leela Mani Paudyal said at the launch that exhibiting one-horned Asiatic rhinos will raise public awareness of the need to protect the animal.

Cooperation with China will better preserve the endangered species, he said. The one-horned Asiatic rhino disappeared in China in the early 20th century and is only found in the wild in a few Asian countries including Nepal, noted Li.

China has always been committed to saving endangered species such as the giant panda and Manchurian tiger, according to Li.