URUMQI, Feb. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- The growing number of explorers in the Lop Nur, a dried up lake in northwest China, is intruding on the habitat of the critically-endangered wild camels, local wildlife preservers have warned.

    The wild Bactrian camel, or Camelus bactrianus, is a two-humped ancestor of domesticated camels. The species lives only in the harsh deserts of northwest China and Mongolia and has been labeled "critically endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

    The number of such camels is no more than 800 worldwide, even rarer than the giant panda, said Zhang Yongshan, head of the Lop Nur Wild Camel Nature Reserve.

    The Lop Nur Wild Camel Reserve was established in 1986 to protect wild camels from extinction. It is home to about 400 of the species.

    "Too many tourists to the area may force the animals to migrate and some travelers may cause harm to the camels by chasing after them," Zhang said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

    Though the management center of the reserve has put up signposts preventing tourists from entering wild camels' habitats, there is not enough manpower to keep watch throughout the vast land that expands to 78,000 square kilometers, he said.

    For urban people who love to explore remote and mysterious lands, Lop Nur is their ideal destination. Once a vast lake, it kept shrinking until it dried up entirely in 1972.

    On the other hand, excavators of Lop Nur's rich mineral resources have also put wild camels in jeopardy, said Zhang Yu, senior engineer with the reserve that is home to more than 10 mines.

    "Some mines have occupied the animals' water supply sources, while others have undermined the local ecology with wastes and exhaust gas," he said, adding, "These are detrimental to the animals' life and reproduction." Enditem