Institut für Biologie der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg
Date of this Version
2007
Document Type
Article
Citation
Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei (Halle/Saale) 10 (2007): 201-203.
Abstract
Between the 5th and 10th of March 2001 we completed a 450 km route by car in Northern Sikkim. During the trip along the southern slopes of the Himalayas and Sikkim Plateau we didn’t see a single kiang. According to the local people and military personnel in Sikkim, kiangs are known only in the outer limits of the Sikkim Plateau, where wild animals have a possibility to migrate free over the Chinese-Indian border. In winter only small groups of kiang incidentally come to the Sikkim Plateau from South Tibet. But in May more of them come there and stay approximately until October-November, especially in the eastern part of the plateau near the lakes. The Sikkim Plateau is a breeding territory for kiangs, which spend winters in South Tibet. Local people and military personnel do not hunt or catch kiang on the Sikkim Plateau. Kiang migrations over the Chinese-Indian border are dependent on the movements of the nomadic yak herders of Sikkim, who spend winter on the plateau and go to the southern slopes of the Himalayas in spring. Nowhere in other parts of the great range of this species do kiangs breed at such an altitude (5,100 - 5,500 m above sea level). We suggest that this may be due to the small size of the southern kiang (Equus kiang polyodon). The best time for kiang surveys in Sikkim is usually the end of August to the beginning of September.
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Comments
Copyright 2007, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle Wittenberg, Halle (Saale). Used by permission.