The urial ( ; Ovis vignei), also known as the arkars or shapo, is a wild sheep native to Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
Taxonomy
Ovis vignei was the scientific name proposed by Edward Blyth in 1841 for wild sheep in the Sulaiman Mountains. The specific name honours Godfrey Vigne (1801–1863).
The vignei subspecies group consists of six individual subspecies:
Ladakh urial (Ovis vignei vignei): India (Ladakh), northern Pakistan, Kashmir
Transcaspian urial (Ovis vignei arkal): Ustjurt-Plateau (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, northern Iran) and western Kazakhstan Blanford's urial or Baluchistan urial (Ovis vignei blanfordi): Pakistan (Balochistan) Bukhara urial (Ovis vignei bochariensis): Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan
Afghan urial or Turkmenian sheep (Ovis vignei cycloceros): southern Turkmenistan, eastern Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan (north Balochistan) Punjab urial (Ovis vignei punjabiensis): provincial animal of Punjab, Pakistan
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 height of an adult male urial is between .
Distribution and habitat
The urial is native to montane areas in the Pamir Mountains, Hindu Kush and Himalayas up to an elevation of . It is distributed from northeastern Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and southwestern Kazakhstan to northern Pakistan and Ladakh in northwestern India. It prefers grassland, open woodland and gentle slopes, but also inhabits cold arid zones with little vegetation.
Behaviour and ecology
The mating season begins in September. Rams select four or five ewes, which give birth to a lamb after a gestation of five months.
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, 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.