Tracking Down Tibetan Antelopes=追寻藏羚羊

The Tibean antelope is unique to China's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.lts habitat is lo-cated 4.000-5.500 m above sea level,in Changtang in northern Tibet,and Hoh Xil in Qinghai Province and the Altun Mountains in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. This is an area lr rrozen soil,glaciers,lakes and marshes, known as the"forbiddenzone" ln an extremely hostile environment for man,the Tibetan antelope thrives.

Many other animals can hardly breathe at an altitude lr 4.000-5.000 m,let alone run,yet the Tibetan antelope can run 20-30 km continuously at a speed lr 60 kph,en-abling it to outdistance beasts lr prey.

The Tibetan antelope isalways alert to danger.lt was only with the greatest greatest difficulty that our photographer could get shots of the animals on the distant horizon,using a camera with a 400 long-focus lens plus a 2.8-times focal-augmenting lens,and having carefully camouflaged himself beforehand.

Yet,poachers have been slaughtering the Tibetan antelope for many years,reducing it to the status of an endangered species