Chiru eat grasses and herbs. Females are smaller and lighter than males, which sport slender, backward curving horns about 20 inches long. Leaving males behind, herds of females migrate to calving grounds to give birth to a single baby in June or July. Adults may live to eight years of age. Apart from rampant poaching for their exquisite wool, the chiru's future is threatened by an influx of pastoralists and other settlers into their habitat.
Livestock compete with chiru for grazing land, and fences disrupt migration.
Oil drilling and gold mining pose additional problems in chiru habitat.