Urial

Urial
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Bovidae
Genus:	Ovis
Species:	O. orientalis
Subspecies:	O. o. vignei
Trinomial name
Ovis orientalis vignei

The Urial (Ovis orientalis vignei group^[2]), also known as the Arkars or Shapo, is a subspecies group of the wild sheep Ovis orientalis. Noticeable features are the reddish-brown long fur that fades during winter; males are characterized by a black ruff stretching from the neck to the chest and large horns. It is found in western central Asia. The other subspecies group of O. orientalis is the Mouflon (Ovis orientalis orientalis group). The two groups have often been considered separate species.^[3]

Physical 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 may be up to 100 cm (39 in) long. The shoulder height of an adult male Urial is between 80 and 90 cm (31 and 35 in).

Distribution

The Urial is found in western central Asia from northeastern Iran and western Kazakhstan to Pakistan's Balochistan and Ladakh. To the east it is replaced by the bigger Argali and to the southwest by the Asiatic Mouflon. Its habitat consists of grassy slopes below the timberline. Urials rarely move to the rocky areas of the mountains. For example in northern Iran they produce hybrids with Asiatic mouflon under natural conditions. Urials feed mainly on grass but are able to eat leaves of trees and bushes if needed.

The conservation status of the Urial is threatened as their habitat is perfectly suitable for human development; however the Urial population has been recovering in recent years.

Behaviour

The mating season begins in September. Rams (which live separately at other times) select four or five ewes, who will give each birth to a lamb after a gestation of five months.

Subspecies

The vignei subspecies group consists of six individual subspecies:

• Afghan Urial or Turkmenian sheep (Ovis orientalis cycloceros): southern Turkmenistan, eastern Iran, Afghanistan, north Balochistan^[4] and northern Pakistan, Kashmir
• Transcaspian Urial (Ovis orientalis arkal): Ustjurt-Plateau (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, northern Iran) and western Kazakhstan
• Blanford Urial or Balochistan Urial (Ovis orientalis blanfordi): Balochistan are often included in this subspecies.
• Bukhara Urial (Ovis orientalis bochariensis): Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, mountains around Amu Darya
• Punjab Urial (Ovis orientalis punjabiensis): the provincial animal of the Punjab (Pakistan)
• Ladakh Urial (Ovis orientalis vignei): Ladakh 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.
• 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

External links

• Images of asiatic wild sheep subspecies