BEIJING, April 11 (Reuter) - A species of red deer believed to have become extinct in Tibet has been rediscovered by Chinese and U.S. scientists on a high plateau in the remote mountainous region, the Xinhua news agency said on Thursday.

Scientists from the U.S. Wild Animal Protection Association and the Tibetan forestry department found herds of the endangered wapiti, or red deer, on a 4,000-metre-high plateau during a two-month survey of Sangri county in Tibet, Xinhua said.

A special nature reserve has been set up in the area to protect the wapiti, believed to have vanished from Tibet in the 1950s, it said.