Snow, wind and a journey hundreds of kilometers long – the first group of 158 female Tibetan antelopes began their annual migration on Thursday, heading deep into the heart of northwest China's Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve to give birth, according to local sources with the reserve.

Every year from May to July, female Tibetan antelopes travel across the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, creating one of the planet's most breathtaking wildlife migrations. They return with their offspring around August.

Thanks to strengthened conservation efforts, including anti-poaching patrols, habitat protection and traffic controls, the Tibetan antelope population in Hoh Xil has rebounded from fewer than 20,000 in the early years of protection to more than 70,000 today.