A discussion on the “Plight of Protecting Mazaalai” was held in the Government House with the Standing Committee on Environment, Foods and Agriculture and the Sub-Assembly of Biology at the Mongolian Academy of Sciences on Tuesday.

Opening the discussion the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Environment, Foods and Agriculture, G.Bayarsaikhan, said that “the Mazaalai, or Gobi Bear, that was listed as one of 17 severely endangered rare species in Mongolia in 2012, is near to extinction in the wild.”

Since 1967, the beginning of the research on the Mazaalai, the remaining number of this animal are thought to be only between 20 to 35.

Even though there has been no drastic change to the number of Mazaalai in the past 50 years, its habitat has been decreased by ten times since 1940 and by five times since 1960.

Degradation of the ecosystem as a consequence of climate changes, human activities due to the mining boom and illegal mining operations can be a hazard to habitat and the number of Mazaalai.

A recent study shows that at least 22-31 Mazaalai were accounted for in a 45,000km² area of the Gobi National Reserve based on oasis research in the desert.

According to a genetic study conducted in 2008-2011, there were only 8 females and 14 males.

The reason behind the small number of Mazaalai is explained by the shortage of food and water sources. It is estimated only 22 Mazaalai are left in Gobi according to a genetic study. Officials of the Ministry of Environment and Green Development said the Ministry has taken certain measures to protect and increase the head count during the discussion.

The first major steps are to install generators to support weather conditions in order to increase rainfall, to make wells to improve oasis conditions and plant desert soil efficient plants for them.