Tibetan Antelope
The Tibetan antelope or chiru is a medium-sized bovid native to the Tibetan plateau. Less than 75,000 individuals are left in the wild, down from a million 50 years ago.
The Tibetan antelope is the sole species in the genus Pantholops, named from the Greek for "all antelope". It was formerly classified in the Antilopinae subfamily, but morphological and molecular evidence led to it being placed in its own subfamily, Pantholopinae, closely allied to goat-antelopes of the subfamily Caprinae.
Although the genus Pantholops is currently monotypic, a fossil species, P. hundesiensis, is known from the Pleistocene of Tibet. It was slightly smaller than the living species, with a narrower skull.
The Tibetan antelope is a medium-sized antelope, with a shoulder height of about 83 cm (33 in) in males, and 74 cm (29 in) in females. Males are significantly larger than females, weighing about 39 kg (86 lb), compared with 26 kg (57 lb), and can also be readily distinguished by the presence of horns and by black stripes on the legs, both of which the females lack.
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