Biodiv Sci ›› 2018, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (2): 185-190.  DOI: 10.17520/biods.2017340

Special Issue: 青藏高原生物多样性与生态安全

• Orginal Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

A wild yak survey in Chang Tang of Tibet Autonomous Region and Hoh Xil of Qinghai Province

Yiming Hu1,2,3#, Weiqi Li2,3#, Zhigang Jiang2,3, Wulin Liu4, Jianchao Liang1, Yizhou Lin5, Zhiwen Huang1, Haihua Qin1, Kun Jin6,*(), Huijian Hu1,*()   

  1. 1 Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization, Guangdong Institute of Applied Biological Resources, Guangzhou 510260
    2 Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101
    3 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049
    4 Forestry Inventory and Planning Institute of the Tibet Autonomous Region, Lhasa 850000
    5 Guangzhou Yilin Ecological Monitoring Limited Company, Guangzhou 510075
    6 Research Institute of Forest Ecology Environment and Protection, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091
  • Received:2017-12-09 Accepted:2018-02-20 Online:2018-02-20 Published:2018-05-05
  • Contact: Jin Kun,Hu Huijian
  • About author:# Co-first authors

Abstract:

The wild yak (Bos grunniens), which is endemic to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, mainly distributed in Chang Tang region of Tibet, Hoh Xil and Sanjiangyuan regions of Qinghai and Altun Mountain of Xinjiang. In this study, we used field data and data from the published literatures to estimate the population of wild yaks as well as their distribution in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the adjacent areas in China. Field surveys were conducted in Chang Tang of Tibet, Hoh Xil of Qinghai between 2012 and 2014. According to our field survey, there were 11,222-21,072 wild yaks in Chang Tang of Tibet, and 659-1,793 in Hoh Xil of Qinghai. Although our results indicate that the population of wild yak has increased since 1990s, the distribution area of wild yak is shrinking. With the changing of the global climate and the intensifying of human activities on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, stronger actions to protect the endemic species in this area are still needed.

http://jtp.cnki.net/bilingual/detail/html/SWDY201802009

Key words: Bos grunniens, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, population, distribution, conservation