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blank.gif (49 bytes)31/01/1999, updated at 9:00am       blank.gif (49 bytes)weather.gif (982 bytes)archive.gif (946 bytes)search.gif (947 bytes)

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Two Chinese-Presented Rare Birds Arrive in Japan

A pair of rare crested ibises given to Japan by the Chinese government arrived Saturday at an ibis conservation center on Sado Island, off the coast of Niigata Prefecture in the Sea of Japan.

Of an endangered species, the two birds -- one male and one female -- are gifts from Chinese President Jiang Zemin to Japanese Emperor Akihito, promised during Jiang's visit to Tokyo last November.

Japanese scientists said they hope to breed the birds, which were handed over earlier in the day at Xi'an airport in China's Shaanxi Province to a delegation led by Hirohisa Kurihara, Japan's parliamentary vice minister of environment.

The male, You You, was born in May 1996 and is 80 centimeters in body length. The female, Yang Yang, with a length of 78 cm, was born in April 1996. Both birds were artificially bred in China.

In China, the number of crested ibises -- which were once believed to have died out -- stands at 130 after the discovery of seven of the birds in mountainous areas of Shaanxi Province in 1981.




Copyright by People's Daily Online
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