Source: Xinhua news agency, Beijing, in English 0136 gmt 15 Jan 96

In Nagqu Prefecture, home of the Tibet Autonomous Region's largest nature reserve, local people who once made their living from hunting are now being taught to protect rare wild animals, Xinhua news agency reported.

Tibet has a unique natural environment with more than 100 species of rare birds and animals. Over the past 30 years, the region has done research on rare wild animals on a large scale. Scientists have identified 15 kinds of animals, such as the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey and sambur, and 39 rare birds, such as the black-necked crane, which are under the state's highest level of protection. An integrated natural protection network, covering 90 per cent of the region's rare wild animals, has been set up and more than half of the region's counties have designated off-limits areas for hunting.

As a result, in recent years the number of the endangered species of wild animals in the region has doubled, the agency reported.