Himalayan tahr
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| Himalayan tahr Conservation status: Vulnerable | ||||||||||||||||
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| Hemitragus jemlahicus (H. Smith, 1826) |
The Himalayan tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus) is a large ungulate and a close relative to the wild goat, with its habitat in the rugged wooded hills and mountain slopes of the Himalaya from northern India to Tibet, They spend the summers grazing in high pastures, then come down the mountains and form mixed-sex herds in the winter.
The Himalayan Tahr is one of three species of tahr. The others are the Arabian tahr of Oman and the Nilgiri tahr of southern India.
Himalayan tahrs have relatively short legs and small heads with large eyes and small pointed ears. Their hooves have a flexible, rubbery core that allows it to grip smooth rocks, while a hard, sharp rim can lodge into small footholds. Males are larger and have different colouration and horn structure than the females. Himalayan tahrs range from 135 to 180 kg (290 to 398 lbs.) in weight, 120 to 170 cm in length, and 60 to 90 cm in height. They are herbivores, subsisting on grass, shrubs and trees. The gestation period is seven months and usually only one kid is born at a time. The young tahr nurses for about six months, and may follow its mother for up to two years. In the wild, tahrs can live up to 15 years, though ten years is more typical.
Feral Himalayan tahr are an introduced species in the South Island of New Zealand, with herds forming in the Southern Alps. They, and feral goats, are regarded as a major pest because their browsing threatens local plant biodiversity.
The Himalayan tahr is considered vulnerable by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) in its home range of the Himalaya. In introduced areas, such as New Zealand, New Mexico, California, South Africa and Ontario, their only predators are humans who hunt them for meat, sport and trophies. There are more sites on the internet advertising organized Himalayan tahr hunting trips than there are sites about the Himalayan tahr itself.fr:Jharal