kids encyclopedia robot

Tibetan antelope facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Atilope du Tibet
The Tibetan antelope, also called Chiru

The Tibetan antelope, also known as Chiru, is a special animal. It is a medium-sized antelope that lives in the high mountains. Chiru are closely related to wild goats and sheep.

These animals live in northwest India and Tibet. They prefer treeless plains called steppes. These steppes are very high up, more than 5,000 meters (about 16,400 feet) above sea level.

Sadly, the Tibetan antelope is an endangered species. This means there are not many left. People hunt them for their very fine underfur. This soft fur is called `shahtoosh`.

Why Chiru are Endangered

The `shahtoosh` fur is used to make expensive, fancy shawls. These shawls are considered a luxury item. To get enough fur for just one shawl, about four Chiru animals must be killed. Because of this hunting, the Chiru are now very close to disappearing forever.

Images for kids

  • Head detail, Chiru of Tibet (Pantholops hodgsonii) from the book entitled, The Great and Small Game of India, Burma, and Tibet (1900) (cropped)

    Head details

See also

Learn more In Spanish: Chirú para niños

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Tibetan antelope Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.