With the aliases of Antelope, Golden-haired Takin, or Gnu, it belongs to the Bovidae family of Artiodactyla order. Its scientific name is Budorcas taxicolor (Latin), or Takin (English).
Its body is stout, with a length of about 200 centimeters, shoulder height of about 150 centimeters, and body weight of about 250 kilograms. Both male and female have horns, and infant horns are thin and straight. In adult stage horn base become thickened, and the horns bend in particularly distorted shape, hence it gets the name. Its mouth and nasal part are bare, and are disconnected by an obvious nose central joint, with forehead upheaved. It has short tail, four sturdy limbs with specially developed forelimbs. And hair coat is short and loose, but the wrapping hair of the lower part of body side is especially long.
Inhabiting mountain forests at an elevation of 1,500 to 4,000 meters high, it moves about in groups of at least 3 to 5, sometimes tens or over one hundred at most in each group. Each group has a "whistle oxen", which is responsible for vigilance by standing on a high place. It looks ugly and logy in appearance, but actually its reaction is very acute, with marvelous climbing and speeling ability. Feeding on twigs, foliage, bamboo leaves, and green grass, it migrates in company with the change of seasons and food source. Its breeding season is between June and August, and gestation period lasts about 8 months, with one baby per fetus. Three days after birth, the baby Takin comes along to move about with its mother. It grows to sexual maturity at the age of a year and half. Under natural conditions, it has a lifespan of 16 and 18 years.
Distributed in Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinling of Shaanxi, southern Gansu, Sichuan, and Yunnan provinces, etc. its population exceeds several ten thousand.
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