The Sindh ibex or Sindhi wild goat (''Capra aegagrus blythi'') is a vulnerable

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

wild goat The wild goat (''Capra aegagrus'') is a wild goat species, inhabiting forests, shrublands and rocky areas ranging from Turkey and the Caucasus in the west to Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan in the east. It has been listed as near threate ...

endemic to southern

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Description

Sindh ibex are rather stocky animals with thick-set bodies and strong limbs terminating in broad

hooves The hoof (plural: hooves) is the tip of a toe of an ungulate mammal, which is covered and strengthened with a thick and horny keratin covering. Artiodactyls are even-toed ungulates, species whose feet have an even number of digits, yet the rumi ...

. Female and young males, till their second winter, are yellowish-brown varying to reddish-grey with a darker brown mid-dorsal line extending from between the shoulders to the base of the tail. Mature males are spectacularly beautiful, with long sweeping scimitar shaped

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...

over 102 cm (40 in) in length and almost silver white bodies offset by a sooty grey chest, throat and face. The extent of white hairs in the hind neck and body region of males increases with age. The hair in summer coat is short and coarse and even in adult males is more reddish-buff in colour. Males have short beards, but females lack any beard. The belly and outside of the lower limbs, beard and forepart of the face vary from black to deep chestnut-brown in mature males. There is also a conspicuous black stripe in adult males, running from the withers down the front of the shoulders and merging with the black chest. Older males have a dark face pattern. The horns are strongly keeled in front, sweeping upwards and outwards with the tips generally diverging. The population estimate of Sindh ibex in Kirthar national park is around 30,000.Sindh Wildlife Department – Khirthar national park
. Sindhwildlife.com.pk. Retrieved on 2012-12-30.

Natural history

This wild goat is gregarious, and if undisturbed will congregate in fairly large

herds A herd is a social group of certain animals of the same species, either wildness, wild or Domestication, domestic. The form of collective animal behavior associated with this is called ''herding''. These animals are known as gregarious animal ...

. The older male associate with such herds but generally keep together, often on the periphery of the main band. When disturbed, they are much more wary and ascend into inaccessible crags very early in the morning, emerging again just before dusk. During the hottest part of the year, they lie up more extensively during the day and may graze a considerable part of the night. Wild goats have a wonderful sense of balance and can make a standing leap 1.75 m (5–6 ft) upwards on a seemingly vertical rock surface. They appear almost slow and deliberate when traversing rock faces but can slide without injury down almost perpendicular rock faces with drops as much as 4–6 m. When challenging another male these wild goats frequently stand up on their hind legs and at the same time bend their head to one side before charging forward and clashing their horns. PK Kirthar NP asv2020-02 img09

References

Capra (genus) Goats Mammals of Pakistan Mammals of Sindh {{eventoedungulate-stub