Chiru vs Tiger

Pantholops hodgsonii compared with Panthera tigris

Key Differences

• Chiru is Near Threatened while Tiger is Endangered.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Chiru	Tiger
Kingdom same	Animalia (動物)	Animalia (動物)
Phylum same	Chordata (脊索動物)	Chordata (脊索動物)
Class same	Mammalia (哺乳類)	Mammalia (哺乳類)
Order	Artiodactyla (偶蹄目)	Carnivora (ネコ目)
Family	Bovidae (Bovids)	Felidae (Cats)
Genus	Pantholops	Panthera (Big Cats)
Species	Pantholops hodgsonii	Panthera tigris

Evolutionary Relationship

Chiru and Tiger share a common ancestor at the Class level: Mammalia. (哺乳類)

Conservation Status

Chiru

NT — Near Threatened

Tiger

EN — Endangered

Population: ~4.5K

Trend: Increasing ↑

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Chiru	Tiger
Diet	—	Carnivore
Average Lifespan	—	20 years
Average Length	—	3.0 m
Average Weight	—	220.0 kg

Habitat & Geographic Range

Chiru

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Tiger

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, and tropical and subtropical grasslands and savannas, among 6 distinct biome types spanning the Neotropic and Oceanian realms. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Distributed across Colombia and Ecuador. 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.

Tiger

地球上最大の野生ネコ科動物で、体重が300kgを超えることもあり、ロシア極東から東南アジアにかけての森林に生息する。まだら光の中で擬態効果を持つ独特のオレンジと黒の縞模様の毛皮を持つ単独待ち伏せ型捕食者である。密猟と森林破壊により野生個体数が4,000頭未満に減少した深刻な危機（CR）種である。