Tibetan antelope
species of mammal
The Tibetan antelope or chiru (Pantholops hodgsonii) (Tibetan: གཙོད་, Wylie: gtsod, pronounced [tsǿ]; Chinese: 藏羚羊; pinyin: zànglíngyáng) is a medium-sized bovid native to the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Most of the population lives within the Chinese border, while some are scattered across India and Bhutan in the high-altitude plains, hill plateau, and montane valley. Fewer than 150,000 mature individuals are left in the wild, but the population is currently thought to be increasing.
In the 1980s and 1990s, they had become endangered due to massive illegal poaching. They are hunted for their extremely soft, light, and warm underfur, which is usually obtained after death. This underfur, known as shahtoosh (a Persian word meaning "king of fine wools"), is used to weave luxury shawls. Shahtoosh shawls were traditionally given as wedding gifts in India, and it takes the underfur of three to five adult antelopes to make one shawl. Despite strict controls on the trade of shahtoosh products and CITES listing, there is still demand for these luxury items. Within India, shawls are worth $1,000–$5,000; internationally, the price can reach as high as $20,000. In 1997, the Chinese government established the Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve (also known as Kekexili) solely to protect the Tibetan antelope population.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Tibetan antelope” as species of mammal. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as species of mammal. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q272293. The Library of Congress control number is sh2004007088. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1997.
Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Tibetan antelope” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.