Range Description

Formerly occurred in western China from Qinghai Lake through Gansu to Ningxia and Ordos. Now confined to six isolated subpopulations around Qinghai Lake: Bird Island on the western side; Shadao-Gahai and Hudong-Ketu on the east; Yuanzhe on the south-east; near Gonghe across the mountians on the south side of the lake, and west of Tianjun, about 120 km north-west of the lake. The last two subpopulations were discovered in 2003 during surveys by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Science’s NW Institute of Plateau Biology and Institute of Zoology. Subsequent studies have confirmed that they represent separate subpopulations and not instances of nomadic groups of gazelles moving around the area.