One third of the Tibet Autonomous Region has been turned into a paradise for wildlife, including some rare species that were once on the verge of extinction.

The autonomous region in southwest China has 15 nature reservestotaling some 41 million hectares, or 33.9 percent of the entire region, says Liu Wulin, head of the regional institute for forestry survey.

"These nature reserves serve as havens for the wildlife abound on the roof of the world," noted Liu, a zoologist himself.

Meanwhile, statistics provided by the autonomous regional environmental protection authority suggest that Tibet also tops Chinese localities with more than 6 million hectares of wetland, or 4.9 percent of its land.

As a result, the population of some rare wildlife species -- including Tibetan wild donkeys, black-necked cranes and Tibetan antelopes -- are growing fast over recent years, said Liu.

"The number of Tibetan antelopes, for example, has risen to about 100,000 from 60,000 reported in 1999, and the plateau presently has more than 8,000 black-necked cranes, as against 3,700 in 1994," he said.

The plateau is also home to 240,000 bharals, or blue sheep, which are endemic to the Himalayas. Local herders say the formerlyrare creatures are often seen rivaling cattle over the same piece of pastureland.

Even red deer, which was listed at a 1990 international conference as extinct, has reappeared in Sangyip county and its population has rapidly grown to approximately 300.

Tibet is one of the most typical regions in the world in terms of biodiversity, and is a major gene pool for the world in both vegetation and animals, according to a recent government bulletin on the environment of Tibet.

The autonomous region boasts 9,600 wild plant species, of which6,400 are higher elevation plants, according to the bulletin released by the regional environmental protection bureau.

Tibet also has 789 wild vertebrate species, 125 of which are under special protection by the central government. There are 45 animal species like Tibetan wild donkey, wild yak and black-neckedcrane that are endemic to China.