chiru

Tibetan species of antelope. It is pale fawn in colour with coarse hair; the male alone has horns, and these are long, straight, ringed and gazellelike. It is nearly 1 m/3.3 ft in height.

Classification The chiru Pantholops hodgsoni is in the family Bovidae (cattle and antelopes) of order Artiodactyla.

The fine underfleece of the chiru antelope is used to weave shatoosh (very fine shawls). One shawl takes three to four chiru to produce, so despite being protected (listed on Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Appendix I, which bans all trade in the species) they are under threat from poachers, who kill an estimated 15,000 animals a year. In 2000 there were 50,000 chiru remaining.