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Qiangtang
Nature Reserve |
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The
Qiangtang Plateau is not only too high
and cold for agriculture, it is also
inhospitable to the semi-nomadic pastoralists
that traditionally graze livestock over
much of the Tibetan Plateau. As a result,
the Qiangtang supports some of the largest
and most intact faunal assemblages in
Asia, with herds of ungulates providing
prey base for predators like lynx (Felis
lynx), wolves (Canis lupus), snow leopards
(Panthera uncia), and brown bears (Ursus
arctos).
In 1992 the government of the Tibetan
Autonomous Region established the Qiangtang
Nature Reserve, a vast region of 247,000
km2 with an additional 37,000 km2 adjoining
to the west. According to Schaller (1998),
the actual size is about 334,000 km2,
about the size of New Mexico. It is
one of the largest nature reserves in
the world, certainly the largest outside
the polar regions.
Although the natural conditions are
severe for mankind, Tibet is a paradise
to some wild animals. Several ungulate
species inhabit the alpine steppes of
the central Tibetan Plateau. These include
Tibetan antelope or chiru (Pantholops
hodgsoni), the only genus of large mammal
endemic to the Tibetan Plateau, well
adapted to moving quickly across expanses
of flat to rolling steppe. Argali (Ovis
ammon hodgsoni), the largest of the
sheep occurs here, but this CITES listed
(Appendix 1) species is rare. Blue sheep
(Pseudois nayaur) are abundant, but
hunted intensively in many areas. Tibetan
gazelles (Procapra picticaudata) are
distributed widely over the central
steppe region of Tibet where they frequent
expansive flat or rolling areas of alpine
meadow or steppe. Wild yaks (Bos grunniens)
were once common throughout this region
but have been hunted to extinction or
near-extinction by local pastoralists
in all but the remotest part of the
Kunlun Range, north of this ecoregion.
It is not always clear whether the surviving
remnant wild yak populations are truly
wild, feral domestics or hybrids. Schaller
(1998) estimates that about 9,000 of
these animals survive on the Tibetan
Plateau, mostly along the northern margin.
Although the Tibetan Autonomous Region
has eleven species of deer, only three
commonly occur outside the southeastern
forests. Of these, only the white-lipped
deer (Cervus albirostris), endemic to
the Tibetan Plateau, inhabits the alpine
steppes including the eastern part of
the Qiangtang eastward into Qinghai
(Schaller 1998).
Kiang (Tibetan wild asses, Equus hemionus)
are still quite common in this ecoregion,
although numbers have "declined
drastically" during the past 100
years (Schaller 1998). Even so, numbers
are sufficient that the species is not
immediately threatened.Like other regions
of the Tibetan Plateau and Central Asia,
large carnivores (snow leopards, brown
bears, wolves and lynx) also occur here
at low density, supported in part by
their smaller prey species like Tibetan
woolly hares (Lepus oiostolus), Himalayan
marmots (Marmota himalayana) and black-lipped
pika (Ochotona curzoniae).
Bird species that breed at Qinghai Lake
include the bar-headed goose (Anser
indicus), brown-headed gull (Larus brunnicephalus),
the larger black-headed gull (Larus
ichthyaetus), and large colonies of
great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
that nest on rocky pinnacles above the
lake. Black-necked cranes (Grus nigricollis)
and pied avocets (Recurvirostra avosetta)
also breed here.
In Qiangtang Nature Reserve, there are
vast prairies and glaciers, numerous
mountains and lakes, hot springs, terrestrial
heats. The golden season is the period
from June to September, during which
the temperature can reach 7-12C and
the north of Tibetan plateau will take
on a specutacular view before you with
gentle wind, mild sunshine, lush grazing
and large number of cattle and sheep. |
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