Chiru vs crab eating macaque

Pantholops hodgsonii compared with Macaca fascicularis

Key Differences

• Chiru is Near Threatened while crab eating macaque is Endangered.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Chiru	crab eating macaque
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Chordata (Chordates)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class same	Mammalia (Mammals)	Mammalia (Mammals)
Order	Artiodactyla (Even-toed Ungulates)	Primates (Primates)
Family	Bovidae (Bovids)	Cercopithecidae (Old World Monkeys)
Genus	Pantholops	Macaca
Species	Pantholops hodgsonii	Macaca fascicularis

Evolutionary Relationship

Chiru and crab eating macaque share a common ancestor at the Class level: Mammalia. (Mammals)

Conservation Status

Chiru

NT — Near Threatened

crab eating macaque

EN — Endangered

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Chiru	crab eating macaque
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Chiru

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

crab eating macaque

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, temperate coniferous forests, and montane grasslands and shrublands, among 10 distinct biome types. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (Mauritius), Asia (China, Japan, Malaysia), Europe (Norway), North America (Cuba), Oceania and the Pacific (Palau), and South America (Brazil, Colombia). Currently classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Chiru

The Chiru (Pantholops hodgsonii), also known as the Tibetan Antelope, is a bovid endemic to the Tibetan Plateau and adjacent high-altitude grasslands of China, with small populations in India. Males bear long, slender, nearly vertical horns that can exceed 70 centimetres in length, while females are hornless. The species is highly adapted to life at elevations of 3,700–5,500 metres, possessing a dense, fine underfur known as shahtoosh — one of the finest animal fibres in the world — which provided insulation against extreme cold but also made chiru a prime target for illegal poaching. Massive hunting pressure during the late twentieth century for shahtoosh shawl production devastated populations, which fell to as few as 75,000 individuals. Following intensified conservation efforts, trade bans, and anti-poaching patrols in China, numbers have partially recovered, though the species remains Near Threatened. Chiru are highly migratory; females undertake remarkable annual migrations of up to 300 kilometres to reach calving grounds in the Chang Tang plateau. Males typically remain at lower elevations year-round. They graze on grasses, sedges, and forbs, and face ongoing threats from climate change affecting high-altitude pasture productivity and from infrastructure development fragmenting migration corridors.

crab eating macaque

crab eating macaque (Macaca fascicularis) is classified as Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List. At high risk of extinction in the wild, with significant population decline and ongoing threats to survival.