The 29th crested ibis chick artificially incubated at the Xiazhu Lake crested ibis breeding center in Deqing County, east China's Zhejiang Province, on Wednesday pushed the province's total population of the bird above 1,000.

The crested ibis, listed as Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species, has long been under strict protection in China.

Since 2008, when 10 crested ibises were introduced from northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Deqing has carried out ex situ conservation and wild population restoration, achieving key breakthroughs in captive breeding, artificial incubation and reintroduction, and establishing the country's largest crested ibis breeding center.

The bird's population in Zhejiang now includes 531 in the wild and 469 in captivity.