The population of ibis, a rare bird found only in Yangxian County, Shaanxi Province in Northwest China, has increased to more than 500 after 22-year artificial breeding effort.

The rare bird, which used to live in many parts of China, as well as in Japan and Russia, was found again in Yangxian County in 1981 after being missing for many years. At the time, only seven ibises were found in the wild by Chinese scientists and China soon mapped out a plan to rescue the bird and help increase its numbers.

A special research prevention centre for the bird was also established at the time in Shaanxi. A total of 144 ibises have been bred artificially at the centre since 2002.