Which endangered animal is the source of the world's finest, lightest, warmest and most expensive wool – the shahtoosh : -
A
Nilgai
B
Cheetal
C
Kashmiri goat
D
Chiru
The answer is D.
Solution
Shahtoosh ('king of wools') is obtained from the fine underfur of the chiru, the Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii), which lives on the high plateau of Tibet and Ladakh. The animal must be killed to obtain the wool, so large-scale poaching has made the chiru endangered. Trade in shahtoosh is banned under CITES and Indian law. Pashmina wool comes from the Kashmiri (Changthangi) goat, which is not killed for its wool. So the source of shahtoosh is the chiru.
ConceptShahtoosh from Tibetan antelope
Biodiversity and Conservation in past papers
95 questions from this chapter have appeared across 25 exam years.
