Procapra

Tibetan Gazelle ( Procapra picticaudata )

The short-tailed gazelles ( Procapra ) are a genus of Central Asian antelope, which are closely related with the "real " gazelles. From this they differ by only a stubby tail and the fact that only the males carry horns, and the females are hornless.

A Mongolian gazelle is 140 cm long, up to the shoulder 80 cm high and 40 kg. It is on the upper side orange and cinnamon in the summer on the sides, while the entire coat seems to be paler in winter.

Habitat

The habitat of all three types are dry steppes and semi- deserts. They climb to over 5500 m in the mountains.

Way of life

While they are active during the day in winter, they limit on hot summer days their activity on the dawn of time. They move in herds of twenty to thirty animals, but they can join together to seasonal migrations also to several thousand animals.

System

Within the genre of the short-tailed gazelles are three possible types:

• Tibetan Gazelle ( Procapra picticaudata )
• Przewalski's gazelle ( Procapra przewalskii )
• Mongolian Gazelle ( Procapra gutturosa )

The genus occasionally as a subgenus of gazelles ( Gazella ) is classified.

Inventory and risk

The Mongolian Gazelle was once one of the most common large animals in Mongolia. Once their numbers amounted to about 1.5 million animals. Due to excessive hunting, the populations were destroyed in western Mongolia. To the east, about 300,000 gazelles have survived.

Even the stocks of Tibet Gazelle fell from millions to 10,000 animals. The Przewalski's gazelle is classified by the IUCN as endangered. 2003 resulted in a count of only 250 animals, all who were in central China near Qinghai Lake.