---
title: "Chiru"
description: "Pantholops hodgsonii — Mammals. The Tibetan antelope or chiru (Pantholops hodgsonii) (Tibetan: གཙོད་, Wylie: gtsod, pronounced [tsǿ]; Chinese: 藏羚羊; pinyin: zànglíngyáng) is a medium-sized bovid native to the northeastern Tibetan Plateau."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/chiru
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Chiru

> Pantholops hodgsonii — Mammals. The Tibetan antelope or chiru (Pantholops hodgsonii) (Tibetan: གཙོད་, Wylie: gtsod, pronounced [tsǿ]; Chinese: 藏羚羊; pinyin: zànglíngyáng) is a medium-sized bovid native to the northeastern Tibetan Plateau.

- Scientific name: *Pantholops hodgsonii*
- Category: `mammals` (Mammals)
- Habitats: `grassland` (Fields & meadows), `mountains` (Mountains)
- iNaturalist observations: 142
- Wikidata: [Q272293](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q272293)
- iNaturalist taxon: [42382](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/42382)

## Names

- en: Chiru
- de: Tschiru
- es: Antilope del Tibet
- fr: Antilope du Tibet
- nl: Tibetaanse antilope
- pt: Chiru
- pl: Cziru

## Countries with the most observations

CN (135)

## Summary

The Tibetan antelope or chiru (Pantholops hodgsonii) (Tibetan: གཙོད་, Wylie: gtsod, pronounced [tsǿ]; Chinese: 藏羚羊; pinyin: zànglíngyáng) is a medium-sized bovid native to the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Most of the population lives within the Chinese border, while some are scattered across India and Bhutan in the high-altitude plains, hill plateau, and montane valley. Fewer than 150,000 mature individuals are left in the wild, but the population is currently thought to be increasing. 
In the 1980s and 1990s, they had become endangered due to massive illegal poaching. They are hunted for their extremely soft, light…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_antelope

## Photo

![Chiru](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/chiru/medium.jpg)

Photo: James Eaton · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/207907673

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/chiru?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).