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Argali
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Argali | ||||||||||||||||
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| Ovis ammon (Linnaeus, 1758) |
The argali, or the mountain sheep (species Ovis ammon) is the globally endangered wild sheep, which roams the highlands of Central Asia (Himalaya, Tibet, Altay). It is also the biggest wild sheep, standing as high as 120 cm and weighing as much as 140 kg. The Pamir argali (also called Marco Polo sheep, for they were first described by that traveller) may attain more than 6 feet in length.
The general colouration varies between each animal, from a lightish yellow to a dark grey-brown. The face is lighter. Males have a whitish neck ruff and a dorsal crest. Males have two large corkscrew horns, some measuring 190 cm/ 6.3 ft in length. Males use their horns for competing with one another. Females also carry horns, but much smaller.
Argalis live in herds between 2 and 100 animals, segregated by sex, except during breeding season. Migrating herds, especially males, have been reported. With long legs, herds can travel quickly from place to place. Argalis tend to live at higher elevations during the summer.
Argalis are considered endangered or threatened throughout their entire range, due to habitat loss from overgrazing of domestic sheep and hunting. They are hunted for both their meat and their horns, used in traditional Chinese medicine. Legal hunting of trophies has also added to the mortality.
Some sources consider mouflon, the ancestor of modern domestic sheep as Ovis ammon musimon, however DNA testing has not supported this. Several subspecies of argali have been genetically tested for mtDNA and one study found that the subspecies Ovis ammon ammon, O. ammon darwini and the urial subspecies, O. vignei bochariensis grouped closely while the subspecies Ovis ammon collium and O. ammon nigrimontana grouped with the urial subspecies O. vignei arkal.[1]
- Altai argali, (Ovis ammon ammon)
- Marco Polo argali, (Ovis ammon polii)
- Gobi argali, (Ovis ammon darwini)
- Karaganda argali, (Ovis ammon collium)
- Tibetan argali, (Ovis ammon hodgsoni)
- Tian Shan argali, (Ovis ammon karelini)
- Severtzov argali, (Ovis ammon severtzovi)
- North China argali, (Ovis ammon jubata)
- Kara Tau argali, (Ovis ammon nigrimontana)
- Hangay argali, (Ovis ammon hangaii)
- Hume argali, (Ovis ammon humei)
- Sair argali, (Ovis ammon sairensis)
- Littledale argali, (Ovis ammon littledalei)
- Gansu argali, (Ovis ammon dalailamae)
- Kuruktag argali, (Ovis ammon adametzi)
- ^ Hiendleder S, Kaupe B, Wassmuth R, Janke A. (May 7 2002). Molecular analysis of wild and domestic sheep questions current nomenclature and provides evidence for domestication from two different subspecies. Proceedings. Biological sciences, The Royal Society of London. Retrieved on August 2, 2006.