Black Tooth vs Chiru

Phellodon niger compared with Pantholops hodgsonii

Key Differences

• Black Tooth is Critically Endangered while Chiru is Near Threatened.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Black Tooth	Chiru
Kingdom	Fungi (फफूंद)	Animalia (प्राणी)
Phylum	Basidiomycota (Club Fungi)	Chordata (रज्जुकी)
Class	Agaricomycetes (Mushrooms)	Mammalia (स्तनधारी)
Order	Thelephorales (Thelephorales)	Artiodactyla (सम-ऊँगली खुरदार)
Family	Thelephoraceae	Bovidae (Bovids)
Genus	Phellodon	Pantholops
Species	Phellodon niger	Pantholops hodgsonii

Conservation Status

Black Tooth

CR — Critically Endangered

Chiru

NT — Near Threatened

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Black Tooth	Chiru
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Black Tooth

Habitat

Inhabits temperate broadleaf and mixed forests within the Palearctic biogeographic realm.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and United States. Currently classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Chiru

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Black Tooth

The Black Tooth (Phellodon niger) is a species in the genus Phellodon. It is currently classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and United States. Currently classified as Critically 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.