page_title: Chang Tang Nature Reserve
section_title: Flora and fauna
hierarchical_section_title: Chang Tang Nature Reserve / Flora and fauna
caption_attribution_description: English: Tibetan antelope or Chiru (Pantholops hodgsonii) on the ChangtangFrançais&#160;: Antilope du Tibet ou Chirou (Pantholops hodgsonii) sur le plateau du Changtang
context_page_description: Chang Tang National Nature Reserve lies in the northern Tibetan Plateau. It is the third-largest land nature reserve in the world, after the Northeast Greenland National Park and Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, with an area of over 334,000 km², making it bigger than 183 countries. Administratively, it lies in Xainza County and Biru County of the Nagqu Prefecture. With the more recently established adjoining reserves listed below there is now a total of 496,000 km² of connected Nature Reserves, which represents an area almost as large as Spain and bigger than 197 other countries.
context_section_description: Here are some of the last remaining herds of wild ungulates: wild yak (Bos grunniens), Tibetan wild ass or kiang (Equus kiang), Himalayan blue sheep or Bharal (Pseudois nayaur), Argali (Ovis ammon), Mongolian gazelle (Procapra gutturosa) and Tibetan antelope or chiru (Pantholops hodgsonii). Chiru wool is considered the finest known, and is smuggled, especially to Kashmir, India where it is woven into shahtoosh shawls. Predators include snow leopards (Panthera uncia or Uncia uncia), Tibetan wolves (Canis lupus chanco), Turkestan lynx (Lynx lynx isabellinus) and Tibetan blue bears (Ursus arctos pruinosus). At the bottom end of the food chain are large numbers of pika (Ochotona spp.).
  The vegetation is open shrubland and grasslands mainly dominated by Stipa grasses and Kobresia species ("bog sedges").
caption: Tibetan antelope or Chiru (Pantholops hodgsonii) on the Changtang plateau
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