Male Tibetan antelopes chasing female ones are common scenes now at the Altun Mountains National Nature Reserve in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Winter is the mating season for Tibetan antelopes, which usually lasts from late November to mid-December. However, the slow temperature drop this winter has postponed the mating season, running from December 2023 to early January in 2024.

These days, researchers of the reserve have conducted scientific investigations on the breeding process of Tibetan antelopes.

"This is another concentrated observation on the migration, lambing and mating of Tibetan antelopes after ten years. Through scientific investigation and patrol, we've discovered that there are a large number of Tibetan antelopes mating on the Dajiuba steppe and the Ka'erdun steppe. Thanks to years of protection in the reserve, the number of Tibetan antelopes has significantly increased to about 65,000, according to the census done by several universities and research institutions," said Shang Peng, deputy director of the promotion and education department at the Reserve.

In recent years, the nature reserve has been monitoring wild animals, in terms of their number, distribution and mating behaviors.

For now, it has 17 kinds of animals under first-class state protection, with 31 under second-class state protection. The number of wild animals in the reserve has shown a steady upward trend.

(Cover image via CFP)