爱羚:第一只家养成功的藏羚

AILING, a male and the first successfully domesticated Tibetan antelope ( Pantholops hodgsoni ), seen on the cover page, was saved by the conservators of Kekexili National Natural Reserve in early July of 2001. He has lived with a herd of sheep and goats belonging to a family of Tibetan herdman for about 17 months, and been matured by 1.5 years of age with enlarged scrotums, descended testicles, adult-male-like body color and sexual behaviors. He has a body length of 117.8 cm, ear length of 10.8 cm, horn length of 32.2 cm, shoulder height of 79.6 cm and buttocks height of 78.2 cm. He has the same characteristics as the domestic animals, such as not fearing of people and other animals, adapting to the extensive husbandry, tying to the artificial supplementary food. All these mean that AILING has been a domesticated animal, which makes the off site conservation of Tibetan antelope possible.