There are more than 700 vertebrate species living in
Tibet, 123 of which are under the national key protection
-- a third of the total within China. The Qinghai-Tibet
Plateau is typically home to such rare animals as chirus,
kiangs, wild yaks and argolis, it is also where China's
unique, Thorold's Deer and endangered species such as
black-necked cranes are to be found. Of the the million
or so terrestrial animal species that have so far been
described about 85% are insects. Due to its unique variety
of climatic conditions some twenty five per cent of
all insect types can be found in Tibet. Of these the
Zorotypus sinensis Huang and Zorotypus medoensis Huang
are under national protection.
One of China's five largest forest regions, Tibet has
an area of 7,170,000 hectares of virgin forests, with
plant species ranging from tundra to tropical. Most
densely distributed in the southeast, to be more specific,
along the Great Canyon of the Yarlung Tsangpo River,
20% of the plants are peculiar to Tibet and over 6,000
species are classified as higher plants. Except for
the economic plants in use of making fabrics, spices,
food and paper, etc, Tibet has one of the greatest resources
of medicinal herbs, which number up to 1,000, including
300 kinds of rare Tibetan herbs such as cordyceps, ganodermas
and snow lotuses.
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