Pantholops hodgsonii

The Tibetan antelope is similar in shape to the gazelle, but is larger and stronger. It is 120-140 cm long, with a tail length of 14-16 cm, a shoulder height of 65-70 cm, and weighs 45-60 kg. The fur on the whole body is very thick and fine, light yellow-brown with a slight pink tinge. The abdomen and the inside of the limbs are white, and the face and front edges of the limbs of the male are black or dark brown. The head is wide and long, the snout of the male is thick and hairy, the upper lip is wide and thick, and there is no infraorbital gland. The nose is swollen and slightly raised, the nasal cavity is wide, bulging hemispherically on both sides, the nose tip is covered with hair, the nostrils are large and slightly curved downward. There is also a small sac in each nostril, which is used to help breathing on the plateau where the air is thin, so as to facilitate fast running. The limbs are strong and well-proportioned, and the hooves are flattened and pointed. The tail is short

Origin: China (Xinjiang, Qinghai, Tibet) and India.
Uncertain seasonality: India (Jammu and Kashmir).
Extinct: Nepal.
It is now mainly distributed in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China, with Qiangtang as the center, south to the north of Lhasa, north to the Kunlun Mountains, east to the northern part of the Qamdo region of Tibet and southwestern Qinghai, and west to the Sino-Indian border.
Tibetan antelopes mainly live in high-altitude plains, desert meadow plateaus, plateau grasslands and other environments with an altitude of 3,250-5,500 meters, undulating hills and mountain valleys, composed of high mountains and desert grasslands and meadows, characterized by low vegetation coverage and low primary productivity. They especially like flat grasslands near water sources. The area where Tibetan antelopes live spans 1,600 kilometers from east to west. Most populations are highly migratory or nomadic, moving up to 300-400 kilometers between summer and winter; seasonal migrati

In the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the mascot Fuwa Yingying is a cute Tibetan antelope.

The origin of the Tibetan antelope provides an interesting example of an endemic species on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, whose ancestors can be traced back to the late Miocene. In the Qaidam Basin in the northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Qurliqnoria, an extinct bovid with a straight, upward-pointing horn, has long been considered the ancestor of the Tibetan antelope. A broken horn of Qurliqnoria has also been found in the Early Pliocene strata of the Qaidam Basin. Importantly, mammals in the Late Miocene of the Qaidam Basin have begun to show a certain level of localization. Some special bovids, such as Tsaidamotherium, Olonbulukia tsaidamensis, Qurliqnoria, Tossunnoria, and a forked-horned deer, are almost exclusively distributed in the Qaidam area. A Pleistocene extinct species of the Tibetan antelope, Pantholops hundesiensis, has been found at high altitudes near the Niti Pass on the Sino-Indian border. Assuming that Qurliqnoria and the Tibetan antelope are as closely related as indicated by the morphology of their horns, the Tibetan Plateau origin of the Tibetan antelope is quite credible.

As one of the few mammals in my country that can migrate, the migration of Tibetan antelopes may originate from a kind of "collective memory of the population". About 4,000 to 8,500 years ago, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was in a warm and humid period, and forests and shrubs extended over a large area in Hoh Xil. Since Tibetan antelopes prefer to live in open grasslands, their populations began to migrate to the colder north. In winter, as the north was covered with large areas of snow, the leaves in Hoh Xil and further south began to fall off, and the Tibetan antelopes migrated south again to find food. In this way, year after year, from generation to generation, seasonal migration has become the collective memory of the Tibetan antelope population, and it still affects their behavior today.

Tibetan antelopes are timid and often hide in caves or dig a small shallow pit in a relatively flat place, hiding their entire bodies inside with only their heads exposed, which can both avoid wind and sand and detect enemies. Tibetan antelopes are good at running. There is a round hole with a diameter of about 2 cm under the skin of each of its two hind legs, and there is a leather cover on the hole. When running, this hole inflates the skin of the hind legs into a leather bag, making it as light as flying, with a maximum speed of 80 kilometers per hour, which often makes wolves and other carnivorous animals sigh. Sometimes they suddenly run and jump like crazy, because maggots have drilled into their buttocks.

When wolves suddenly approach, Tibetan antelope groups often do not flee in all directions, but gather together, lower their heads, and confront the wolves with their long horns as weapons, which often makes the wolves unable to attack and have to give up.

The gradual reduction of habitat area, poaching and other threats to Tibetan antelopes from humans and domestic animals, human activities that interfere with Tibetan antelope migration and activities, encroachment on Tibetan antelope habitats, and the expansion of livestock grazing to remote and previously unused areas.

Poaching is the main reason for the sharp decline in the number of Tibetan antelope populations. Survey data from the late 1980s to the early 1990s showed that in the winter of 1986, the density of Tibetan antelopes in southwestern Qinghai was 0.2-0.3 per square meter. In 1991, the density of Tibetan antelopes in the eastern part of the Qiangtang Nature Reserve was 0.2 per square meter, and groups of Tibetan antelopes with a number of more than 2,000 could be seen. A survey conducted in Kunlun Mountains in Xinjiang in 1994 estimated that the number of Tibetan antelopes in the area was about 43,700. According to a senior expert who has been engaged in wildlife research on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau for many years, the total number of Tibetan antelopes in China had dropped sharply to about 50,000-75,000 in 1995. In 2012, due to the strong protection of the people in the Tibetan region, the number had risen to 170,000. Since then, no one has seen a group of Tibetan antelopes with a number of more than 2,000. In many places where Tibetan antelopes gathered in the past, only sporadic Tibetan antelopes can be seen now. This ancient species is on the verge of extinction.

In historical records, the number of Tibetan antelopes once reached one million, but due to the international market's demand for Tibetan antelope cashmere shawls, they suffered a large number of poaching in the last 20 years of the 20th century, and their number dropped sharply. In 1995, there were only more than 50,000 left in Tibet.

Over the years, Tibet has increased the protection of Tibetan antelopes, cracked down on illegal hunting and killing of Tibetan antelopes, and strengthened legal publicity and law enforcement, so that the number of Tibetan antelopes in Tibet has increased from 70,000 in 1999 to more than 100,000.

Due to the improvement of the ecological environment and the reduction of armed poaching activities, the survival rate of newborn Tibetan antelopes has increased in the Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve, the Qiangtang National Nature Reserve in Tibet, the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve in Qinghai, and the Altun Mountain National Nature Reserve in Xinjiang, where Tibetan antelopes mainly live. The population has recovered and grown rapidly, and by 2014 the number had reached nearly 300,000. On January 4, 2021, it was learned from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration of China that the wild population of Tibetan antelopes has recovered to more than 300,000.

Listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species ver3.1

2008 - Endangered (EN),

2016 - Near Threatened (NT).

Listed in Appendix I, Appendix II and Appendix III of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) 2019 Edition.

Listed in the first level of the China National Key Protected Wildlife List.

In India, except for the special cases in Zhaimo and Kashmir, the trade of Tibetan antelopes is also expressly prohibited according to the Indian Wildlife Protection Act.

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