The ground tit, Tibetan ground-tit or Hume's ground-tit is a bird of the Tibetan plateau north of the Himalayas. The peculiar appearance confused ornithologists in the past who called it as Hume's groundpecker and still later as Hume's ground jay or Tibetan ground jay assuming that it belonged to the family Corvidae that includes the crows and jays. Although morphologically confusing, the species has since been identified using molecular sequence comparisons as being a member of the tit family (Paridae) and is the only species in the genus Pseudopodoces. It is found in the Tibetan Plateau of China, India, Nepal & Bhutan.
The greater long-tailed hamster is a rodent native to Siberia, the Korean Peninsula, and China. It is the only member of the genus Tscherskia.
Malus sieversii is a wild apple native to the mountains of Central Asia in southern Kazakhstan. It has recently been shown to be the primary ancestor of most cultivars of the domesticated apple. It was first described as Pyrus sieversii due to its similarities with pears in 1833 by Carl Friedrich von Ledebour, a German naturalist who saw them growing in the Altai Mountains.
The Oriental fire-bellied toad is a small semiaquatic frog species found in northeastern Asia, where they primarily dwell in slow-moving bodies of water and temperate forests. Quite common throughout much of their range, these frogs have mild toxins that can be excreted through their skin, with their vibrant underbellies serving as a warning of this. While not a true toad, their green and black skin is covered in small tubercles, giving them a toadlike appearance. Their sounds, mainly produced by males during the mating season, are very unlike those of other frogs. While their population is in decline, their numbers are still high overall, with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) rating them as a least-concern species. They are commonly kept as pets in land and water vivaria, as a relatively easy-to-care for species. They are also frequently used in scientific research, with their behavior, vocalizations, and learning skills all moderately studied.
Thunnus is a genus of ocean-dwelling, ray-finned bony fish from the mackerel family, Scombridae. More specifically, Thunnus is one of five genera which make up the tribe Thunnini – a tribe that is collectively known as the tunas. Also called the true tunas or real tunas, Thunnus consists of eight species of tuna, divided into two subgenera. The word Thunnus is the Middle Latin form of the Greek thýnnos – which is in turn derived from thynō. The first written use of the word was by Homer.
The Himalayan wolf is a canine of debated taxonomy. It is distinguished by its genetic markers, with mitochondrial DNA indicating that it is genetically basal to the Holarctic grey wolf, genetically the same wolf as the Tibetan wolf, and has an association with the African golden wolf. No striking morphological differences are seen between the wolves from the Himalayas and those from Tibet. The Himalayan wolf lineage can be found living in Ladakh in the Himalayas, the Tibetan Plateau, and the Central Asian highlands predominantly above 4,000 m in elevation because it has adapted to a low-oxygen environment, compared with other wolves that are found only at lower elevations.
Triplophysa is a genus of fish in the family Nemacheilidae found mainly in and around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China. Currently, the genus is a mixed assemblage of species. Some lineages have been identified and treated as subgenera, but as Wikipedia follows Fishbase for fish species all but Hedinichthys have been treated as subgenera in Wikipedia, although Kottelat in his revision of the loaches did recognise them as valid. FishBase, however, includes these in Triplophysa without specifying subgenera and treats the names given by Kottelat as synonyms.
Cupressus gigantea, the Tibetan cypress, is a species of conifer in the family Cupressaceae in Asia. C. gigantea was previously classified as a subspecies of Cupressus torulosa because of their similar morphological characteristics and close distribution, but have since been genetically distinguished as separate species.
The plateau pika, also known as the black-lipped pika, is a species of mammal in the pika family, Ochotonidae.
Salmo marmoratus, the marble trout, is a species of freshwater fish in the family Salmonidae. It is characterized by a distinctive marbled color pattern and high growth capacity. The marble trout is found in only a handful of drainages and rivers of the Adriatic basin in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro, while in Albania, the species is considered most likely extirpated.
Fuxian Lake stretches out through Chengjiang, Jiangchuan and Huaning Counties in Yunnan Province, spanning an area of 212 square kilometers. The lake is ranked third-largest in Yunnan, after Dian Lake and Erhai Lake. Also the deepest lake in Yunnan, it is 155 meters deep at its greatest depth. It is also the third-deepest fresh water lake in China, after Tianchi and Kanas Lake.
Triplophysa bleekeri is a species of stone loach in the genus Triplophysa. It is endemic to China. It grows to 8.2 cm (3.2 in) TL. Having a wide distribution across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, it lives in fast-flowing rivers from 200 to 3,000m in altitude. Being an unusual species inhabiting high-altitude regions, it is an excellent model to investigate the genetic mechanisms of adaptation to the local environment. With this in mind a chromosomal-scale genome assembly was sequenced and assembled with a genome size of ∼628 Mb. This data finding that the Triplophysa genus likely diverged when the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau elevated by >4,000 m roughly 40 million years ago.
Triplophysa dalaica is a species of stone loach. It is only known from Hulun Lake in Inner Mongolia, China; it is believed to occur more widely as fish in this genus typically occur in running water.
Triplophysa microps is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus Triplophysa. It is found in shallow streams at the upper reaches of the Yellow, Yangtze, Salween, Mekong, Indus and Brahmaputra Rivers and also in alpine lakes in the Tibetan plateau.
Triplophysa siluroides is a large species of stone loach, which is endemic to the upper parts of the Yellow River basin in the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan.
Triplophysa stenura is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus Triplophysa. It lives in swift-flowing streams and is known from the Upper Yangtze, Upper Mekong, Upper Salween and Upper Brahmaputra river drainages in China and Vietnam. Whether this apparently widespread species really is one species needs to be studied. It grows to 13.8 cm (5.4 in) SL.
The Amur leopard is a leopard subspecies native to the Primorye region of southeastern Russia and northern China. It is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List as in 2007, only 19–26 wild leopards were estimated to survive in southeastern Russia and northeastern China. It is considered one of the rarest cats on Earth.
Organisms can live at high altitude, either on land, in water, or while flying. Decreased oxygen availability and decreased temperature make life at such altitudes challenging, though many species have been successfully adapted via considerable physiological changes. As opposed to short-term acclimatisation, high-altitude adaptation means irreversible, evolved physiological responses to high-altitude environments, associated with heritable behavioural and genetic changes. Among animals, only few mammals and certain birds are known to have completely adapted to high-altitude environments.
Oxygymnocypris stewartii is a species of cyprinid fish endemic to Tibet and occurs in the Yarlung Tsangpo River and its tributaries at altitudes above 3,600 m (11,800 ft) in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It is the only species in its genus.
Gymnocypris przewalskii is a species of cyprinid that is endemic to the Lake Qinghai basin in China, where it is the dominant fish species. G. przewalskii is a planktivore with a main population that migrates from the lake to rivers to spawn and another that lives its entire life in the nearby Ganzi River. The species is listed as endangered on the China Species Red List due to overfishing and habitat loss, which has led to suspension of its commercial fishery four times since 1989.
