The urial ( ; ''Ovis vignei''), also known as the arkars or shapo, is a wild sheep native to Central and

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...

. It is listed as Vulnerable on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

Characteristics

Urial males have large horns, curling outwards from the top of the head turning in to end somewhere behind the head; females have shorter, compressed horns. The horns of the males are up to long. The

shoulder The human shoulder is made up of three bones: the clavicle (collarbone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone) as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons. The articulations between the bones of the shoulder mak ...

height of an adult male urial is between .

Distribution and habitat

The urial is native to montane areas in the Pamir Mountains,

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan, Quote: "The Hindu Kush mountains run along the Afghan border with the North-West Frontier Province ...

and

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

up to an elevation of ; it is distributed from northeastern

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and southwestern

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

to northern

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

and

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu ...

in northwestern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It prefers

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

, open woodland and gentle slopes, but also inhabits cold arid zones with little vegetation.

Behaviour and ecology

The

mating In biology, mating is the pairing of either opposite- sex or hermaphroditic organisms for the purposes of sexual reproduction. ''Fertilization'' is the fusion of two gametes. ''Copulation'' is the union of the sex organs of two sexually reprod ...

season begins in September. Rams select four or five ewes, which give birth to a lamb after a gestation of five months.

Taxonomy

* ''Ovis vignei'' was the scientific name proposed by Edward Blyth in 1841 for wild sheep in the

Sulaiman Mountains The Sulaiman Mountains, also known as Kōh-e Sulaymān ( Balochi/Urdu/ fa, ; "Mountains of Solomon") or Da Kasē Ghrūna ( ps, د كسې غرونه; "Mountains of Kasi"), are a north–south extension of the southern Hindu Kush mountain system i ...

. The specific name honours

Godfrey Vigne Godfrey Thomas Vigne (1 September 1801 – 12 July 1863) was an English amateur cricketer and traveller. Early life Vigne was born on 1 September 1801 at Walthamstow, then in Essex, the eldest son of Thomas Vigne. He entered Harrow School in ...

(1801–1863). The ''vignei'' subspecies group consists of six individual subspecies: *Afghan urial or Turkmenian sheep ('' Ovis vignei cycloceros''): southern

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

, eastern

, north Balochistan

*Transcaspian urial (''

Ovis vignei arkal ''Ovis'' is a genus of mammals, part of the Caprinae subfamily of the ruminant family Bovidae. Its seven highly sociable species are known as sheep or ovines. Domestic sheep are members of the genus, and are thought to be descended from the wil ...

''): Ustjurt-Plateau (

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...

, northern

) and western

*Blanford's urial or Baluchistan urial (''

Ovis vignei blanfordi ''Ovis'' is a genus of mammals, part of the Caprinae subfamily of the ruminant family Bovidae. Its seven highly sociable species are known as sheep or ovines. Domestic sheep are members of the genus, and are thought to be descended from the wil ...

''): Balochistan (Pakistan) are often included in this subspecies *Bukhara urial (''

Ovis vignei bochariensis ''Ovis'' is a genus of mammals, part of the Caprinae subfamily of the ruminant family Bovidae. Its seven highly sociable species are known as sheep or ovines. Domestic sheep are members of the genus, and are thought to be descended from the wil ...

''):

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

, mountains around

Amu Darya The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...

*Punjab urial (''

Ovis vignei punjabiensis ''Ovis'' is a genus of mammals, part of the Caprinae subfamily of the ruminant family (biology), family Bovidae. Its seven highly sociable species are known as sheep or ovines. Domestic sheep are members of the genus, and are thought to be desc ...

''): the provincial animal of the

Punjab (Pakistan) Punjab (; , ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in central-eastern region of the country, Punjab is the second-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the largest province by population. It shares land borders with the ...

*Ladakh urial (''

Ovis vignei vignei The urial ( ; ''Ovis vignei''), also known as the arkars or shapo, is a wild sheep native to Central Asia, Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable species, Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Characteristics Urial males have large ho ...

''):

and northern

, Kashmir, males have curly horns but the females have flat horns -->

References

* Nowak R. M.: Walker's Mammals of the World, Sixth Edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, London, 1999. * Namgail, T., van Wieren, S.E., Mishra, C. & Prins, H.H.T. (2010). Multi-spatial co-distribution of the endangered Ladakh urial and blue sheep in the arid Trans-Himalayan Mountains. Journal of Arid Environments, 74:1162-1169. * Lingen, H.: Großes Lexikon der Tiere. Lingen Verlag, Köln. * Prater, S. H.: The Book of Indian Animals, Oxford University Press, 1971. * Menon, V.: A Field Guide to Indian Mammals,

Dorling Kindersley Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media co ...

, India, 2003 * CITES Instruktion für den grenztierärztlichen Dienst
Proposal about subspecies of Urial
* Yahya M. Musakhel ''et al.'' 2006: Identification of Biodiversity Hot Spots in Musakhel District balochistan Pakistan.

External links

{{Authority control Ovis Mammals of Afghanistan Mammals of Pakistan Fauna of Iran Fauna of Ladakh Fauna of India Mammals of Central Asia Mammals described in 1841 Subspecies Taxa named by Edward Blyth