Beijing (People's Daily) - A rare female black wolf was captured by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) during a water bird survey in the Yellow River section of the Sanjiangyuan National Park. It is the first time the species has been recorded in the Sanjiangyuan area, confirming the existence of the black wolf in the wild in China.

Rare black wolf caught in Sanjiangyuan National Park. (Photo: WWF)

The black wolf in the picture is completely black with white lip margins, totally unlike common grey wolves. Li Li, an investigator who took photos of the black wolf, said that the black wolf was found in the Gobi desert. 

The researchers followed the black wolf for more than 30 minutes and saw her try to hunt Tibetan antelope and rabbit four times before finally walking further along a dry river bed.

Xie Yan, an associate researcher in the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes the discovery is significant and valuable for studying wolf species in China. Compared to Western countries, there are few documented reports of black wolves in China, she said. It is hoped that this information can lead more scholars to conduct in-depth research on wolves in China, and the public and relevant institutions can be expected to pay more attention to the protection movement.

In addition to the black wolf, the investigation team also found a total of 26 species, and nearly 15,000 wetland birds.