Its native names include yanyang (岩羊) in Mandarin, bharal, barhal, bharar, and bharut in Hindi, na or sna in Tibetan and Ladakh, nabo in Spitian, naur in Nepali and na or gnao in Bhutan.[4] The bharal was also the focus of George Schaller and Peter Matthiessen's expedition to Nepal in 1973. Their personal experiences are well documented by Matthiessen in his book, The Snow Leopard. The bharal is a major prey of the snow leopard.
These medium-sized caprids are 115 to 165 cm (45 to 65 in) long along the head-and-body, with a tail of 10 to 20 cm (3.9 to 7.9 in). They stand 69 to 91 cm (27 to 36 in) high at the shoulder. Body mass can range from 35 to 75 kg (77 to 165 lb). Males are slightly larger than females. Dense coat is slate grey in colour, sometimes with a bluish sheen. The underparts and backs of the legs are white, while the chest and fronts of the legs are black. Separating the grey back and white belly is a charcoal-colored stripe. The ears are small, and the bridge of the nose is dark. The horns are found in both sexes and are ridged on the upper surface. In males, they grow upwards, then turn sideways and curve backward, looking somewhat like an upside-down mustache. They may grow to a length of 80 cm (31 in). In females, the horns are much shorter and straighter, growing up to 20 cm (7.9 in) long.[5][6]
Taxonomy and evolution
Chinese blue sheep, Pseudois nayaur szechuanensis
Himalayan blue sheep, P. n. nayaur
Helan Shan blue sheep, P. n. ssp.
Dwarf blue sheep
The dwarf blue sheep, a unique variant of bharal formerly thought to be a distinct species or subspecies
The dwarf blue sheep or dwarf bharal (formerly described as Pseudois schaeferi), also known as rong-na in Tibetan, was an alleged species of Pseudoisendemic to Sichuan-Tibet in China. It apparently inhabited low, arid, grassy slopes of the upper Yangtze gorge in Batang County of the Sichuan Province, and a small part of the Tibet Autonomous Region. It was recorded as differing from the bharal primarily in size, with adult males weighing around 35 kg (half as much as the bharal), less sexual dimorphism occurring in the species, and females of the two species being very similar. Its coat was described as a steely grey with a silvery sheen, with darker general colouration than the bharal, and the horns of the male were smaller, thinner and more upright, with no inward curl. There were only 200 individuals estimated to be alive in 2000, which prompted the IUCN (classifying it as a subspecies of P. nayaur, as P. n. schaeferi) classified it as Endangered.[7]
However, a 2012 genetic analysis of Chinese bharal found no indication that it was either a distinct species or subspecies, instead finding to be a morphologically distinct variant of P. n. szechuanensis. The American Society of Mammalogists also follows these results, considering P. schaeferi to be conspecific with P. nayaur.[3][7]
Bharal are active throughout the day, alternating between feeding and resting on the grassy mountain slopes. Due to their excellent camouflage and the absence of cover in their environment, bharal remain motionless when approached. Once they have been noticed, however, they scamper up to the precipitous cliffs, where they once again freeze, using camouflage to blend into the rock face. Population densities in Nepal were found to be 0.9–2.7 animals per km2, increasing to a maximum of 10 animals in the winter, as herds congregate in valleys.[5] Bharal are mainly grazers, but during times of scarcity of grass, they switch to browsers, eating herbs and shrubs.[8] A high degree of diet overlap between livestock (especially donkeys) and bharal, together with density-dependent forage limitation, results in resource competition and a decline in bharal density.[9] Where they overlap, they are the favored prey of snow leopards, Himalayan wolves, and leopards, with a few lambs falling prey to foxes or eagles.[5]
Rutting behaviour
The rutting of the bharal starts towards late November and continues until mid-January. During the rut, male bharal use multiple strategies for mating, namely tending, blocking, and coursing.[10] Their lambs are born in late June and July.[citation needed]
Threats
The bharal is categorised as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The population faces threats - poaching for meat and competition with livestock. Poaching, however, is uncommon due to the unsuitable conditions of its habitat. Similarly, livestock do not generally frequent the mountainous regions where bharal occur; even if they do coexist, no notable detrimental effect on the bharal has been observed.[1]
Relationship with humans
Many Buddhist monasteries protect the bharal found around them, but lately, issues of crop damage caused by bharal have started to arise in areas such as the Spiti Valley.
References
^ abcHarris, R.B. (2014). "Pseudois nayaur". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2014: e.T61513537A64313015. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-3.RLTS.T61513537A64313015.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
^Wang, X.M.; Hoffmann, R.S. (1987). "Pseudois nayaur and Pseudois schaeferi". Mammalian Species (278): 1–6. doi:10.2307/3503993. JSTOR 3503993.
^ ab"Explore the Database". www.mammaldiversity.org. Retrieved 2021-08-28.
^Lydekker, R. (1900). The great and small game of India, Burma and Tibet, p 93,
^ abcBharal, Himalayan blue sheep 2015-04-06 at the Wayback Machine. Ultimateungulate.com. Retrieved on 2012-08-23.
^Smith, A. T., Xie, Y. (eds.) (2008) A Guide to the Mammals of China. Princeton University Press, Princeton Oxfordshire ISBN0691099847.
^ abTan, Shuai; Zou, Dandan; Tang, Lei; Wang, Gaochao; Peng, Quekun; Zeng, Bo; Zhang, Chen; Zou, Fangdong (2012-06-01). "Molecular evidence for the subspecific differentiation of blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur) and polyphyletic origin of dwarf blue sheep (Pseudois schaeferi)". Genetica. 140 (4): 159–167. doi:10.1007/s10709-012-9667-4. ISSN 1573-6857. PMID 22821360. S2CID 17673293.
^Suryawanshi, K.; Bhatnagar, Y.V.; Mishra, C. (2010). "Why Should a Grazer Browse? Livestock impact on winter resource use by bharal Pseudois nayaur". Oecologia. 162 (2): 453–462. Bibcode:2010Oecol.162..453S. doi:10.1007/s00442-009-1467-x. PMID 19784849. S2CID 1486413.
^Mishra, C.; Van Wieren, S. E.; Ketner, Pieter; Heitkonig, Ignas M. A.; Prins, Herbert H. T. (2004). "Competition between domestic livestock and wild bharal Pseudois nayaur in the Indian Trans-Himalaya". Journal of Applied Ecology. 41 (2): 344–354. doi:10.1111/j.0021-8901.2004.00885.x.
^Lovari, Sandro; Som Ale (2001). "Are there multiple mating strategies in the blue sheep?". Behavioural Processes. 53 (1–2): 131–135. doi:10.1016/S0376-6357(00)00134-0. PMID 11255000. S2CID 7587862.
Further reading
Namgail, Tsewang; Fox, Joseph L.; Bhatnagar, Yash Veer (2004). "Habitat segregation between sympatric Tibetan argali Ovis ammon hodgsoni and blue sheep Pseudois nayaur in the Indian Trans‐Himalaya". Journal of Zoology. 262: 57–63. doi:10.1017/S0952836903004394. S2CID 59067250.
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.
Namgail, T., Mishra, C., de Jong, C. B., van Wieren, S.E. & Prins, H.H.T. (2009). Effects of herbivore species richness on blue sheep niche dynamics and distribution in the Indian Trans-Himalaya. Diversity and Distributions, 15:940-947.
Namgail, Tsewang (December 2001). Habitat selection and ecological separation between sympatric Tibetan argali and blue sheep in northern India(PDF) (Thesis). University of Tromso. hdl:10535/3567.
Namgail, Tsewang (January 2006). "Winter Habitat Partitioning between Asiatic Ibex and Blue Sheep in Ladakh, Northern India". Journal of Mountain Ecology. 8: 7–13. S2CID 54699112.
Shrestha, Rinjan; Wegge, PER (2008). "Wild sheep and livestock in Nepal Trans-Himalaya: Coexistence or competition?". Environmental Conservation. 35 (2): 125–136. doi:10.1017/S0376892908004724. JSTOR 44521948. S2CID 58913300.
Shrestha, Rinjan; Wegge, Per (June 2008). "Habitat relationships between wild and domestic ungulates in Nepalese Trans-Himalaya". Journal of Arid Environments. 72 (6): 914–925. Bibcode:2008JArEn..72..914S. doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2007.12.002.
Shrestha, R., Wegge, P. & Koirala, R. A. (2005). Summer diets of wild and domestic ungulates in Nepal Himalaya. Journal of Zoology (London), 266: 111 – 119.
External links
Media related to bharal at Wikimedia Commons
Bharal at Animal Diversity Web
January 26, 2023
bharal, blue, sheep, redirects, here, blue, public, house, named, blue, sheep, pubs, inns, grantham, naur, redirects, here, danish, computer, scientist, peter, naur, bharal, pseudois, nayaur, also, called, blue, sheep, caprine, native, high, himalayas, only, m. Blue Sheep redirects here For the blue public house named the Blue Sheep see pubs and inns in Grantham Naur redirects here For the Danish computer scientist see Peter Naur The bharal Pseudois nayaur also called the blue sheep is a caprine native to the high Himalayas It is the only member of the genus Pseudois 3 It occurs in India Bhutan China in Gansu Ningxia Sichuan Tibet and Inner Mongolia Myanmar Nepal and Pakistan 1 The Helan Mountains of Ningxia have the highest concentration of bharal in the world with 15 bharals per km2 and 30 000 in total BharalMale bharal in Spiti ValleyFemale bharal in North SikkimConservation statusLeast Concern IUCN 3 1 1 Scientific classificationKingdom AnimaliaPhylum ChordataClass MammaliaOrder ArtiodactylaFamily BovidaeSubfamily CaprinaeTribe CapriniGenus PseudoisHodgson 1846Species P nayaurBinomial namePseudois nayaur Hodgson 1833 Distribution of blue sheep dwarf blue sheep range in darker blueSynonymsPseudois schaeferi Haltenorth 1963 Pseudois nayaur schaeferi Species synonymy 2 Ovis nayaur Hodgson 1833 Ovis nahoor Hodgson 1835 Ovis burrhel Blyth 1840 Ovis nahura J E Gray 1840 Ovis barhal Hodgson 1846 Ovis burhel J E Gray 1833 Its native names include yanyang 岩羊 in Mandarin bharal barhal bharar and bharut in Hindi na or sna in Tibetan and Ladakh nabo in Spitian naur in Nepali and na or gnao in Bhutan 4 The bharal was also the focus of George Schaller and Peter Matthiessen s expedition to Nepal in 1973 Their personal experiences are well documented by Matthiessen in his book The Snow Leopard The bharal is a major prey of the snow leopard Contents 1 Description 2 Taxonomy and evolution 2 1 Dwarf blue sheep 3 Behaviour and ecology 3 1 Rutting behaviour 4 Threats 5 Relationship with humans 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External linksDescription EditThese medium sized caprids are 115 to 165 cm 45 to 65 in long along the head and body with a tail of 10 to 20 cm 3 9 to 7 9 in They stand 69 to 91 cm 27 to 36 in high at the shoulder Body mass can range from 35 to 75 kg 77 to 165 lb Males are slightly larger than females Dense coat is slate grey in colour sometimes with a bluish sheen The underparts and backs of the legs are white while the chest and fronts of the legs are black Separating the grey back and white belly is a charcoal colored stripe The ears are small and the bridge of the nose is dark The horns are found in both sexes and are ridged on the upper surface In males they grow upwards then turn sideways and curve backward looking somewhat like an upside down mustache They may grow to a length of 80 cm 31 in In females the horns are much shorter and straighter growing up to 20 cm 7 9 in long 5 6 Taxonomy and evolution EditChinese blue sheep Pseudois nayaur szechuanensis Himalayan blue sheep P n nayaur Helan Shan blue sheep P n ssp Dwarf blue sheep Edit The dwarf blue sheep a unique variant of bharal formerly thought to be a distinct species or subspecies The dwarf blue sheep or dwarf bharal formerly described as Pseudois schaeferi also known as rong na in Tibetan was an alleged species of Pseudois endemic to Sichuan Tibet in China It apparently inhabited low arid grassy slopes of the upper Yangtze gorge in Batang County of the Sichuan Province and a small part of the Tibet Autonomous Region It was recorded as differing from the bharal primarily in size with adult males weighing around 35 kg half as much as the bharal less sexual dimorphism occurring in the species and females of the two species being very similar Its coat was described as a steely grey with a silvery sheen with darker general colouration than the bharal and the horns of the male were smaller thinner and more upright with no inward curl There were only 200 individuals estimated to be alive in 2000 which prompted the IUCN classifying it as a subspecies of P nayaur as P n schaeferi classified it as Endangered 7 However a 2012 genetic analysis of Chinese bharal found no indication that it was either a distinct species or subspecies instead finding to be a morphologically distinct variant of P n szechuanensis The American Society of Mammalogists also follows these results considering P schaeferi to be conspecific with P nayaur 3 7 Behaviour and ecology Edit Herd of bharal in Ladakh Bharal in Lingti Valley Himachal Pradesh A kid blue sheep Bharal are active throughout the day alternating between feeding and resting on the grassy mountain slopes Due to their excellent camouflage and the absence of cover in their environment bharal remain motionless when approached Once they have been noticed however they scamper up to the precipitous cliffs where they once again freeze using camouflage to blend into the rock face Population densities in Nepal were found to be 0 9 2 7 animals per km2 increasing to a maximum of 10 animals in the winter as herds congregate in valleys 5 Bharal are mainly grazers but during times of scarcity of grass they switch to browsers eating herbs and shrubs 8 A high degree of diet overlap between livestock especially donkeys and bharal together with density dependent forage limitation results in resource competition and a decline in bharal density 9 Where they overlap they are the favored prey of snow leopards Himalayan wolves and leopards with a few lambs falling prey to foxes or eagles 5 Rutting behaviour Edit The rutting of the bharal starts towards late November and continues until mid January During the rut male bharal use multiple strategies for mating namely tending blocking and coursing 10 Their lambs are born in late June and July citation needed Threats EditThe bharal is categorised as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature The population faces threats poaching for meat and competition with livestock Poaching however is uncommon due to the unsuitable conditions of its habitat Similarly livestock do not generally frequent the mountainous regions where bharal occur even if they do coexist no notable detrimental effect on the bharal has been observed 1 Relationship with humans EditMany Buddhist monasteries protect the bharal found around them but lately issues of crop damage caused by bharal have started to arise in areas such as the Spiti Valley References Edit a b c Harris R B 2014 Pseudois nayaur IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014 e T61513537A64313015 doi 10 2305 IUCN UK 2014 3 RLTS T61513537A64313015 en Retrieved 19 November 2021 Wang X M Hoffmann R S 1987 Pseudois nayaur and Pseudois schaeferi Mammalian Species 278 1 6 doi 10 2307 3503993 JSTOR 3503993 a b Explore the Database www mammaldiversity org Retrieved 2021 08 28 Lydekker R 1900 The great and small game of India Burma and Tibet p 93 a b c Bharal Himalayan blue sheep Archived 2015 04 06 at the Wayback Machine Ultimateungulate com Retrieved on 2012 08 23 Smith A T Xie Y eds 2008 A Guide to the Mammals of China Princeton University Press Princeton Oxfordshire ISBN 0691099847 a b Tan Shuai Zou Dandan Tang Lei Wang Gaochao Peng Quekun Zeng Bo Zhang Chen Zou Fangdong 2012 06 01 Molecular evidence for the subspecific differentiation of blue sheep Pseudois nayaur and polyphyletic origin of dwarf blue sheep Pseudois schaeferi Genetica 140 4 159 167 doi 10 1007 s10709 012 9667 4 ISSN 1573 6857 PMID 22821360 S2CID 17673293 Suryawanshi K Bhatnagar Y V Mishra C 2010 Why Should a Grazer Browse Livestock impact on winter resource use by bharal Pseudois nayaur Oecologia 162 2 453 462 Bibcode 2010Oecol 162 453S doi 10 1007 s00442 009 1467 x PMID 19784849 S2CID 1486413 Mishra C Van Wieren S E Ketner Pieter Heitkonig Ignas M A Prins Herbert H T 2004 Competition between domestic livestock and wild bharal Pseudois nayaur in the Indian Trans Himalaya Journal of Applied Ecology 41 2 344 354 doi 10 1111 j 0021 8901 2004 00885 x Lovari Sandro Som Ale 2001 Are there multiple mating strategies in the blue sheep Behavioural Processes 53 1 2 131 135 doi 10 1016 S0376 6357 00 00134 0 PMID 11255000 S2CID 7587862 Further reading EditNamgail Tsewang Fox Joseph L Bhatnagar Yash Veer 2004 Habitat segregation between sympatric Tibetan argali Ovis ammon hodgsoni and blue sheep Pseudois nayaur in the Indian Trans Himalaya Journal of Zoology 262 57 63 doi 10 1017 S0952836903004394 S2CID 59067250 Namgail T van Wieren S E Mishra C amp 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 Namgail T Mishra C de Jong C B van Wieren S E amp Prins H H T 2009 Effects of herbivore species richness on blue sheep niche dynamics and distribution in the Indian Trans Himalaya Diversity and Distributions 15 940 947 Namgail Tsewang December 2001 Habitat selection and ecological separation between sympatric Tibetan argali and blue sheep in northern India PDF Thesis University of Tromso hdl 10535 3567 Namgail Tsewang January 2006 Winter Habitat Partitioning between Asiatic Ibex and Blue Sheep in Ladakh Northern India Journal of Mountain Ecology 8 7 13 S2CID 54699112 Shrestha Rinjan Wegge PER 2008 Wild sheep and livestock in Nepal Trans Himalaya Coexistence or competition Environmental Conservation 35 2 125 136 doi 10 1017 S0376892908004724 JSTOR 44521948 S2CID 58913300 Shrestha Rinjan Wegge Per June 2008 Habitat relationships between wild and domestic ungulates in Nepalese Trans Himalaya Journal of Arid Environments 72 6 914 925 Bibcode 2008JArEn 72 914S doi 10 1016 j jaridenv 2007 12 002 Shrestha R Wegge P amp Koirala R A 2005 Summer diets of wild and domestic ungulates in Nepal Himalaya Journal of Zoology London 266 111 119 External links Edit Media related to bharal at Wikimedia Commons Photos and further information Bharal at Animal Diversity Web Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Bharal amp oldid 1134596285, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
