Yi's report - Chiru

Tibetan antelope or chiru which are living in Tibet Autonomous Region, QingHai province, and XinJiang Autonomous Region are listed as endangered wild animals. The main reason for this is the fur trade. In 1990, the number of these animals were 1 million, however, which decreased dramatically to 75 thousand during the following 5 years owning to the illegal hunting and trade. The fur of chiru, known as shahtoosh, is very famous for the quality, which is warm, soft and fine. Since 1990, our government has tried to make the measures to protect them, for example some protect zones have been set to prevent the over-hunting. However, the numbers continue to drop because of the costly fur price.

Tibetan antelope is 80 cm in height at shoulder and the male ones have horns which are 50 cm. they are herbivore and tame. The life span is around 8 years which is far shorter than other bovid (average 20-25 years).