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Table 21. Mammal species observed in Qinghai

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Spp. No.	Species		General Status (and Protection Status in China)	Distribution (Wildlife Observations)
	Common Name	Latin Name		Date	Location	Numbers	Other Comments
	I. Lagomorpha		__________________________________________________
1	Plateau pika (Black-lipped pika)	Ochotona curzoniae	Common to abundant in large portions of the plateau	Observed in all seasons	All counties, in alpine meadow	Common to abundant	Local populations sometimes crash, very high densities in some areas, a keystone species of the plateau
2	Glover's pika	Ochotona gloveri	Locally common in southwest Qinghai and in adjacent areas of Sichuan and Tibet	July 1999	Chengduo and Shiqu (Sichuan)	3 individuals observed	Seen on cliff near stream and at base of dirt wall, closely related to the red-eared pika Ochotona erythrotis
3	Tibetan woolly hare (Gray-rumped Hare)	Lepus oiostolus	Occasional to common In most areas of the plateau	Observed in warm season	All counties, cosmopolitan	Occasional to common	Endemic to the Tibetan plateau
	II. Rodentia		__________________________________________________
4	Himalayan marmot	Marmota himalayana	Locally common in most areas of the plateau	July 1997 (burrows seen all seasons)	In Kunlun Mtns. south of Golmud	Large active colony	Hibernate six months of the year, sign observed in several counties
5	Zokor	Myospalax baileyi	Uncommon in most areas, locally abundant in some places	(mounds seen in all seasons)	Around Qinghai Lake, in Guoluo	Few mounds observed	Can cause excessive local degradation of alpine meadow (black sands)
	III. Carnivora		__________________________________________________
6	Gray wolf	Canis lupus	Present in low numbers in most areas of the plateau	Observed in all seasons	Gangcha, Dulan, Maduo	8 individuals observed	One observed by frozen carcass of a Tibetan gazelle Procapra picticaudata (five wolves observed by L. Wester)
7	Tibetan sand fox	Vulpes ferrilata	Present in moderate numbers in most areas of the plateau	Observed in all seasons	Gangcha, Dari, Jiuzhi, Maduo, Zhiduo, etc.	~25	The most common fox on the Tibetan plateau (The red fox Vulpes vulpes is heavily hunted for its fine pelt)
8	Weasel / Polecat	Mustela spp.	Present in low numbers in most areas of the plateau	June 1998, July 1998	Dari, Zhiduo	1 individual observed	Steppe polecat Mustela eversmanni is an important predator of the plateau pika Ochotona curzoniae
9	Eurasian badger	Meles meles	Uncommon	July 1998	Jiuzhi	1 individual observed	Observed in meadow with low shrubs, near county administrative center
10	Pallas' cat (Manul)	Felis manul	Uncommon (II)	June 1998	Jiuzhi	1 individual observed	Observed along roadside near a township administrative center
11	Chinese desert cat	Felis bieti	Uncommon (II)	April 1998	Maduo	1 individual observed	Observed in remote pastoral area, close to high mountain pass (and one old, unfriendly, armed Tibetan nomad!)
12	Snow leopard	Uncia uncia	Uncommon (I)	April 1997	Gouli (in Dulan)	sign (scrape) observed	Scrape and scat observed on ridge in Kunlun Mtns., abundant prey nearby (blue sheep Pseudois nayaur)
	IV. Perissodactyla		__________________________________________________
13	Tibetan wild ass (Kiang)	Equus kiang	Uncommon or present in low numbers in most areas of the plateau, locally abundant (I)	March 1997	Maduo	~165	Several herds seen on 28 / 03 / 97 (6 to 14 animals / herd, avg. » 10), eight herds seen on 31 / 03 / 97 (5 to 44 animals / herd, avg. » 14)
				May 1997	Gangcha	~110	Around ten herds seen in May 1997 (2 to 25 animals per herd, avg. » 11)
				July 1997	Golmud-Lhasa Highway	~35	Nine groups or individuals seen in July 1997 (1 to 9 animals / group, avg. » 4) (The highway passes through the Kekexili Range of western Qinghai)
				March 1999	Suojia (Zhiduo)	~550	Four or five large herds seen in Wild Ass Valley, totaling over 500 animals (Suojia is located in western Zhiduo, on the edge of the Kekexili Range)
	V. Artiodactyla		__________________________________________________
14	White-lipped deer (Thorold’s deer)	Cervus albirostris	Locally abundant, uncommon in most areas of the plateau (I)	July 1998	Suojia (Zhiduo)	3 individuals	Observed on the bank of the Tongtian River (Yangtze River)
				October 1999	Zhiduo	~150	Many deer seen at the Deer Farm
15	Goitred gazelle	Gazella subgutturosa	Present in low numbers In the Qaidam Basin (II)	July 1997	Dulan, Geermu	5 individuals	Observed in remote desert and arid mountainous region
16	Tibetan gazelle (Goa)	Procapra picticaudata	Present in moderate numbers in most areas of the plateau (II)	July 1997	Golmud-Lhasa Highway	~20	Solitary animals and small herds
				Observed in all seasons	Maduo	~290	Solitary animals and herds of up to 12 individuals, mostly female
				October 1996	Gangcha	34 individuals	Four herds seen on 26 / 10 / 96 (2 to 18 animals / herd, avg. » 8)
17	Blue sheep (Bharal)	Pseudois nayaur	Common in mountainous areas in most areas of the plateau (II)	April 1997	Dulan (in Gouli, Xiangride)	~260	Three herds were observed in Dulan (95, 32 and 131 individuals) high in the eastern Kunlun Mountains
				July 1997	Geermu	5 individuals	Small herd observed on scree cliff
				July 1998	Suojia (Zhiduo)	~15	Small herd observed on rocky cliff, less than 500 m from a winter home
				July 1999	Shiqu (Sichuan)	~45	Several herds observed in Luoxu N.R.
18	Tibetan antelope (Chiru)	Pantholops hodgsoni	Rare, declining population (I)	June 1995	Wudaoliang (Golmud-Lhasa Highway)	~1150	Four herds seen on 11 / 06 / 96 (~100 to ~550 animals / herd), female and young animals only
				July 1997	Wudaoliang (Golmud-Lhasa Highway)	22 individuals	Two herds seen 25 / 07 / 97, female and young animals only
				July 1997	Wudaoliang (Golmud-Lhasa Highway)	over 142 individuals	One herd seen on 28 / 07 / 97, partial count only (some animals hidden), female and young animals only
_________________________________________________ Notes: Protection status in China: I = Category One protected species, II = Category Two protected species (Carey 1996)

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