Tracking Down Tibetan Antelopes=Chasing Tibetan Antelopes

Author: Xi Zhi nóng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: The Tibetan antelope is unique to China's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Its habitat is located 4,000-5,500 meters above sea level, in Changtang in northern Tibet, and Hoh Xil in Qinghai Province and the Altun Mountains in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. This is a region of frozen soil, glaciers, lakes, and marshes, known as the "forbidden zone." In an extremely hostile environment for man, the Tibetan antelope thrives. Many other animals can hardly breathe at an altitude of 4,000-5,000 meters, let alone run, yet the Tibetan antelope can run 20-30 km continuously at a speed of 60 kph, enabling it to outdistance beasts of prey. The Tibetan antelope is always alert to danger. It was only with the greatest difficulty that our photographer could get shots of the animals on the distant horizon, using a camera with a 400-long-focus lens plus a 2.8-times focal-augmenting lens, and having carefully camouflaged himself beforehand. Yet, poachers have been slaughtering the Tibetan antelope for many years, reducing it to the status of an endangered species.