Travel around Tibet – Rare Animals

Travel around Tibet – Tibet Names

If you are interested in Tibet, you may hear few names of Tibet, and maybe, you are confused. The names include Weizang, Kangzang, Houzang and Ngari Prefecture. Those names are appeared related to some historical reasons, all which they are the important parts of completed Tibet history. It is helpful for us to understand Tibet well if we know those names. According to Tibetan traditions and habits, the entire Tibet region and some Tibetan areas of Sichuan Province are divided into 4 parts, Kang, Wei, Zang, and Ngari.

Kang

Kang means Kangzang. It is also named Kamu. It is a part located in the east of Tibet. It covers areas of Qamdo Prefecture, Kangding Region of Sichuan Province, Litang Region of Sichuan Province, and Batang Region of Sichuan Province, and so on.

Wei

Wei means Weizang. It is also named middle Tibet, as it is located in the middle area of Tibet region. It covers areas of Lhasa City and Shannan Prefecture.

Zang

Usually, Zang means Shigatse Prefecture of Tibet.

Ngari

Ngari Prefecture is situated in the northwest of Tibet.

Travel around Tibet – Rare Animals

The Bible says when people are punished by the God with flooding; the God told Noah in advance and asked him to build a giant huge ark. The giant huge ark could save every two types of the animals when the disaster happens. In some cases, when large numbers of rare animals are killed by people or become extinct for some reasons related to human beings, the cold and remote Tibet is a kind of Noah's Ark for saving species of the world. Tibet is not only a last refuge of animals, but also a paradise for their generations here.

Because of the extreme special living environment in Tibet, there are many rare faunas and floras, all which their genes are drought-resistant, cold resistant and radiation-resistant. Chinese scientists figure it out that the gene of the wild animals of Tibet could organize a unique gene pool.

There are approximately 5800 species of wild faunas in Tibet, and there are about 723 species of wild floras. 40 of 723 species of wild floras are only growing in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Himalaya Mountain area. The main wild floras include cypress, Mulberry, Tibet longleaf pine, hemlock, Morinda Spruce, Quercus semicarpifolia, Himalayan pine, pinewood, and redwood, etc. Shalo is a kind of tree fern and it is one of the oldest floras of the world. It is called the living fossil and protected by the State now.

Regarding the rare wild faunas in Tibet, there are wild arks, Tibetan antelopes, snow leopard, kiang, brown bear, argali, golden monkey, lesser panda, tahr, Bengal tiger, and Tibetan Snowcocks, and so on.

In the lower reach of Niyang River, the giant cypress and old mulberry are both available there. Niyang River is a branch of Yarlung Zangbo River and it is available along Langxan County and Kongpu Gyangda County. The giant cypresses are over 2500 years old with old history and mysterious story. The old mulberries are said to be planted when Wencheng Princess married with Songtsen Gampo.

Anyway, even though influenced by the activities of human beings, Tibet still keeps the primitive eco-environment compare to most of areas of the earth.