| Bharal (blue sheep) | |
|---|---|
| Bharal in Tibet | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Bovidae |
| Subfamily: | Caprinae |
| Genus: | Pseudois |
| Species: | P. nayaur |
| Binomial name | |
| Pseudois nayaur Hodgson, 1833 |
|
The bharal or Himalayan blue sheep or naur, Pseudois nayaur, is a caprid found in the high Himalayas of Nepal, Tibet, China, India, Pakistan, and Bhutan. Its native names include bharal, barhal, bharar and bharut in Hindi, na or sna in Ladakh, nabo in Spitian, naur in Nepali and na or gnao in Bhutan.[1]
The bharal has horns that grow upwards, curve out and then towards the back, somewhat like an upside down mustache.
The bharal was also the focus of George Schaller's 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 food of the snow leopard.
Contents |
The dwarf blue sheep (P. schaeferi) is sometimes considered to be a subspecies of the bharal.
The rutting of the bharal starts in towards late November and continues until mid-January. During the rut male bharal use multiple strategies for mating. Namely: Tending, Blocking and Coursing[2] The young are born in late June and July.
Bharal are mainly grazers but during times of scarcity of grass they have the plasticity to switch to herbs and shrubs[3] 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.[4]
The bharal is listed as least concern under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species[5]
Many Buddhist monasteries protect the bharal that are found around them, but lately, issues of crop damage caused by bharal have started to arise in areas such as the Spiti valley.
Media related to Bharal at Wikimedia Commons