Experiencing Eden By Chen Liang
Publisher:China Daily - Publication Date: 20-06-2008

Hidden within the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon, one of the world's deepest river valleys, it is arguably the remotest county in China and the only one that is not connected by highway to the outside world.

It is also this inaccessibility of Medog, an area under the jurisdiction of Nyingchi prefecture in the Tibet autonomous region, that makes the region one of the richest depositories of wildlife.

To reach this treasure chest of biodiversity, a group of seven scientists recently scaled two mountain passages at more than 4,200 m above sea level.

Along their trek through snow-covered mountain slopes and 140-km long, steep forest trails, the researchers braved possible avalanches and landslides, elbowing their way through wind-toppled trees.

The scientists had to guard against venomous snakes and wild dogs. They endured leeches, mosquitoes, gadflies, fleas and bedbugs.

All agreed that the journey was worthwhile - the group came back with samples of wildlife that could turn out to be new species.

Isolated from the rest of the world by a halo of snow-capped mountains on the southern slope of the Himalayas, Medog is nurtured by currents of warm and humid air from the Indian Ocean.

Its unmatched biodiversity contains vast ecosystems that range from alpine meadows to tropical rainforests, long making it an Eden for ecologists and biologists.

The scientists' 16-day expedition, part of a new study called the Rapid Assessment Program (RAP), enabled the team comprising the country's leading field biologists to see Medog for themselves and learn more about the isolated area.

Altogether, the biologists collected 47 samples of about 16 species of small-sized mammals, more than 160 samples of over 30 species of frogs and reptiles, and more than 1,200 samples of nearly 100 species of ants. They also recorded more than 170 species of birds and shot pictures of a rare leopard cat in the wild.

"Less studied than most areas in the country, Medog is not only a biodiversity hotspot, but also the real frontline of scientific discoveries," says Peking University biologist Wang Hao, using the term to denote a region with a marked reservoir of biodiversity that is threatened with destruction.

"The findings of our RAP survey of Medog will certainly shed new light on this enigmatic region."

Getting in

The way into Medog was laid with uncertainty.

When the team reached Nyingchi in mid May, the scientists were unable to launch their survey from the Duoxiongla site as planned -- the mountain pass was still impassable at 4,240 m above sea level due to heavy snowfall this winter.

The group instead headed for Bome. Six hours south of Nyingchi, the county town stood at the starting point of the 120-km Bome-Medog road.

Once at Bome, the biologists realised the road was not how they expected it to be. Faced with landslides and fallen trees, only four-wheel SUVs are able to reach Medog from Bome two or three months in a year.

The team rose early at 3:30am to avoid avalanches at the snow-covered Galongla Pass at 4,300 m above sea level, which had already killed and buried seven local travelers in January. Their hired jeeps would only bring the scientists 24 km of the road, where the area was 3,500 m above sea level.

Following the one-hour drive, the biologists linked up with four porters -- local Lhoba people -- before proceeding to scale Mount Galongla at 6am. They reached a hostel at the 52-km mark of the road only after sitting and sliding down a snow slope.

Their daily treks, often up to 20 km, made the days long and exhausting. But all grew accustomed to the hardship since there was no other option.

The team

Liu Yang, a 39-year-old researcher from the Sichuan Academy of Forestry in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, went on the trip to collect as many small-sized mammals as possible. The short, stout man used metal traps to catch mice and rats.

Each time he caught a sample, Liu would treat and preserve it in alcohol for closer study later. This kept him busy at dawn and dusk.

While Liu was active during those two parts of the day, 44-year-old Rao Dingqi was the group's nocturnal explorer.

The associate professor with the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is considered one of the country's best herpetological specimen collectors.

Rao was the only member of the team to have visited the region more than once -- this was his third trip there.

This time, Rao's focus was the region's frogs, particularly tree frogs. He would start work after dinner and go on up till midnight.

Dressed in rain boots, Rao would walk into the forests with a flashlight in one hand and his snake-catching stick in the other.

"If you don't follow him on one of these night trips, you would never be able to imagine how difficult it is to catch frogs in the darkness and realize just how good he is at what he does," says Wang Fang, a 25-year-old PhD candidate of Peking University and a promising wildlife photographer himself, responsible for the survey's collection of images.

"His ears are so sharp that he can tell you which type of frog might be singing before swiftly locating it."

As the days went by, the singing of frogs from Rao's room increased even as the survey team got further into Medog. Penetrating deep into the forest with Rao, Wang Fang captured the rare images of a leopard cat at night.

Compared with the work of Liu and Rao, Xu Zhenghui's required more patience. At 49, the professor with Southwest Forestry College in Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, is one of the country's leading researchers on ants and the oldest member of the team.

Along the trails through Medog, Xu would often turn a stone or a piece of rotten wood upside down in search of ants. Once he found his quarry, the professor would sit down on a stone, shovel the soil containing the ants into a plastic dish with a garden spade and start picking out his samples, one tiny one after another, with a pair of tweezers.

It was a bumper harvest for Xu every day. During the journey, the professor collected more than 1,200 samples of nearly 100 species of ants.

"Many of them might be new species, since no one has been to Medog to study ants before," Xu says.

"Ants are an important indicator of a region's biodiversity. The rich variety of ants I collected here truly reveals the area's extraordinary biodiversity."

The road ahead

The situation was less rosy for the region's large mammals, another important indicator of the local environment.

Wang Hao, the survey's coordinator and a researcher on large mammals, was frustrated at not being able to see any large mammal in Medog's wild. Except for leopard cat droppings spotted at several sites, the 35-year-old found virtually no sign of any other big animal in the region's forests.

At the local Monba ethnic minority villages, however, signs of the animals were everywhere.

Their fur was found hung on walls or beds, their horn on the lintels of doors, their meat in dishes.

At Yarang village near the county town, the scientists were even treated to wild boar meat by a villager.

"Medog is probably the only county in China where the local ethnic people can still own guns. As an age-old tradition, the love of hunting is in their blood," Wang Hao says.

"This is certainly a serious threat to animals, especially big animals. Another threat to both the animals and their habitat is the traditional slash-and-burn cultivation practiced by the locals.

"For the sake of Medog's conservation, we have to find ways to help the locals give up some of their traditional ways of life."

On the way out of Medog, Wang Hao started thinking about recommendations on conserving the region, which will be presented to the local forestry department together with the scientific findings of the survey team's final report.

Rao collected more than 100 samples of 20 species of frogs and six species of reptiles during the survey. Before he arrived in Nyingchi from Medog, however, he already started thinking about his fourth trip.

"I plan to conduct comparative research on tree frogs living at the same altitude of Mount Galongla and Mount Duoxiongla," he says.

"I caught a few samples of several species on Galongla, but collected only one of a same species on Duoxiongla. It is certainly not enough for research."

Liu thought the same.

"A mouse I caught in Medog might be a completely new species," he says.

"Once it is confirmed, I must come back for more samples."

"The end of a RAP survey often means the beginning of more research projects," Wang says.

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