The mixture of sheeplike and goatlike traits have created confusion about the evolutionary relationships of this species. Schaller (1998) argues that,
"They lack beards and calluses on the knees, they have no strong body odor and the females have small, almost nonfunctional horns, all characters typical of sheep." However, "they resemble goats in their flat broad tail with a bare ventral surface, the conspicuous markings on the forelegs, and the large dew claws," the structure and color of the horns are also the same as in goats. Schaller concludes that they are goats with sheeplike traits. Molecular evidence suggests that he is correct.
Dwarf blue sheep (Psuedois nayaur schaeferi) are a distinct and isolated group of bharals. However, they are sometimes classified as a separate species and could be an example of a peripheral isolate in the process of speciation (Wang and Hoffman). But because of their small range (only in China), habitat destruction, and over hunting, the group is endangered. As of 1997, China did not recognize them as a seperate species so efforts to conserve the species have not been initiated (Shackleton 1997).
Perception Channels: tactile ; chemical
The blue sheep are widespread and locally abundant, this situation is well suited for a well-regulated management program that could include a sustainable annual harvest in certain areas for commercial purposes (Schaller 1998).
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Population control is probably nessesary because of overgrazing and the destruction of grasslands. Currently, hunting and predation keeps this from being a problem.
Bharals populations seem to be healthy. As a result,in some areas they are hunted. They are considered trophy kills because of the rugged terrain one must conquer in order to find them, and there are many organized trips one can take to the Tibetan Plataeu to try one's luck. They are also important as the primary prey of snow leopards. In areas of their range in India, domestic livestock may interfere with bharals populations.
Positive Impacts: food ; body parts are source of valuable material; ecotourism
Bharals mainly feed on dry grasses in the winter, and alpine grasses in the summer (Schaller 1977). However, Blue sheep display much seasonal change in diet. According to Schaller (1998), graminoids (grasses) ranged from 10.5% up to 92% of the diet in the summer, but grasses were also the main source of diet in the winter, supplemented with shrubs and forbs. The great range in the percentage of grasses is because of the many different types of habitat these animals occupy. Abundance of grasses can be different throughout the plateau due to the increasing latitude. The higher the latitude the lower the percentage of grass found in their diet, while the percentage of the supplemental shrubs, forbs, and occasional twigs increases.
Plant Foods: leaves; wood, bark, or stems; seeds, grains, and nuts
Primary Diet: herbivore (Folivore , Granivore )
Bharals are distributed broadly across the Tibetan Plateau, a relatively inaccessible habitat for humans. In addition to Tibet, the plateau includes the high montane regions of China, the northeastern corner of Pakistan, and the mountains of northwestern Nepal, and the Indian sector bordering China (Wang and Hoffman 1987).
Biogeographic Regions: oriental (Native )
Blue Sheep occupy a variety of habitats across the region. They are very tolerant of environmental extremes from desert mountains in searing heat to windy and cold slopes (Schaller 1998). They are usually found near cliffs and similar escape cover, but avoid entering forested areas (Schaller,1977).
Range elevation: 1,200 to 6,000 m.
Habitat Regions: temperate
Terrestrial Biomes: desert or dune ; mountains
Adults have a relatively long life as determined from growth rings on the horns. To get an idea of the maximum lifespan of these animals samples were taken from hunters: 10% lived 1-4 yrs, 73% 4-10 yrs, and 17% 11-15 yrs. Over 80% of the males died between the ages of 4-10 years during their prime. Males are represented here because of the bias of hunters, and young males and females are underrepresented because of their small horns being less attractive to trophy hunters (Schaller 1998).
Range lifespan
Status: wild: 15 to 17 years.
Typical lifespan
Status: wild: 4 to 11 years.
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 15.0 years.
Blue Sheep possess a stocky body and stout legs, with robust shoulders and a broad chest (Wang and Hoffman 1987). Their pelage ranges from grayish brown to slate blue (Schaller 1998), hence the common name blue sheep. The blue tint of the bharals makes them almost invisible against the background of blue-grayish rock that is typical within their habitat (Wang and Hoffman 1987). Their hair is short and they lack a beard. There is a black stripe that separates the upper parts of the back from the white side. Their horns sweep up and out and then curve back before curling at the tip. Females resemble males except they have shorter horns and the stripe is gray instead of black (Schaller 1998).
Range mass: 35 to 75 kg.
Range length: 120 to 140 cm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Bharal practice two antipredator strategies. They almost always remain near cliffs, in preparation to run toward rugged slopes to avoid danger with a female leading the retreat (Wang and Hoffman 1987). Also, they give sharp alarm calls to warn fellow members of the herd (Schaller 1977).
Known Predators:
Male bharals show little interest in females until the females are in estrus, beginning near the end of November to February, with the young being born between mid-May and early-July (Schaller 1977). Estrus lasts for over a month in this species but altitude decides the start time. The differences among elevations can probably be ascribed to the availability of high-quality forage during the time of gestation (Schaller 1998).
Young males less than a year old have straight horns, 5 cm long, and a woolly cap of hair. Yearling males are about 2/3 the size of adult females. They lack the lateral stripes and their horns are about 15 cm. When they reach 3 years of age they are the size of the adult females, but still lack the stripe. Their horns reach about 35 cm. By 5-7 years of age the males reach full maturity with their horns reaching 45-55 cm long. Schaller (1977)
Breeding season: Late November thru February
Range number of offspring: 1 to 2.
Range gestation period: 4 to 5.33 months.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 7 (low) years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 2 years.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 7 (low) years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 2 years.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; viviparous
Average number of offspring: 1.5.
Parental Investment: altricial ; female parental care
The bharal (Pseudois nayaur), also called the blue sheep, is a caprine native to the high Himalayas. It is the only member of the genus Pseudois.[3] It occurs in India, Bhutan, China (in Gansu, Ningxia, Sichuan, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia), Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan.[1] The Helan Mountains of Ningxia have the highest concentration of bharal in the world, with 15 bharals per km2 and 30,000 in total.
Its native names include yanyang (岩羊) in Mandarin, bharal, barhal, bharar, and bharut in Hindi, na or sna in Tibetan and Ladakh, nabo in Spitian, naur in Nepali and na or gnao in Bhutan.[4] The bharal was also the focus of George Schaller 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 prey of the snow leopard.
These medium-sized caprids are 115 to 165 cm (45 to 65 in) long along the head-and-body, with a tail of 10 to 20 cm (3.9 to 7.9 in). They stand 69 to 91 cm (27 to 36 in) high at the shoulder. Body mass can range from 35 to 75 kg (77 to 165 lb). Males are slightly larger than females. Dense coat is slate grey in colour, sometimes with a bluish sheen. The underparts and backs of the legs are white, while the chest and fronts of the legs are black. Separating the grey back and white belly is a charcoal-colored stripe. The ears are small, and the bridge of the nose is dark. The horns are found in both sexes and are ridged on the upper surface. In males, they grow upwards, then turn sideways and curve backward, looking somewhat like an upside-down mustache. They may grow to a length of 80 cm (31 in). In females, the horns are much shorter and straighter, growing up to 20 cm (7.9 in) long.[5][6]
The dwarf blue sheep or dwarf bharal (formerly described as Pseudois schaeferi), also known as rong-na in Tibetan, was an alleged species of Pseudois endemic to Sichuan-Tibet in China. It apparently inhabited low, arid, grassy slopes of the upper Yangtze gorge in Batang County of the Sichuan Province, and a small part of the Tibet Autonomous Region. It was recorded as differing from the bharal primarily in size, with adult males weighing around 35 kg (half as much as the bharal), less sexual dimorphism occurring in the species, and females of the two species being very similar. Its coat was described as a steely grey with a silvery sheen, with darker general colouration than the bharal, and the horns of the male were smaller, thinner and more upright, with no inward curl. There were only 200 individuals estimated to be alive in 2000, which prompted the IUCN (classifying it as a subspecies of P. nayaur, as P. n. schaeferi) classified it as Endangered.[7]
However, a 2012 genetic analysis of Chinese bharal found no indication that it was either a distinct species or subspecies, instead finding to be a morphologically distinct variant of P. n. szechuanensis. The American Society of Mammalogists also follows these results, considering P. schaeferi to be conspecific with P. nayaur.[3][7]
Bharal are active throughout the day, alternating between feeding and resting on the grassy mountain slopes. Due to their excellent camouflage and the absence of cover in their environment, bharal remain motionless when approached. Once they have been noticed, however, they scamper up to the precipitous cliffs, where they once again freeze, using camouflage to blend into the rock face. Population densities in Nepal were found to be 0.9–2.7 animals per km2, increasing to a maximum of 10 animals in the winter, as herds congregate in valleys.[5] Bharal are mainly grazers, but during times of scarcity of grass, they switch to browsers, eating herbs and shrubs.[8] 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.[9] Where they overlap, they are the favored prey of snow leopards, Himalayan wolves, and leopards, with a few lambs falling prey to foxes or eagles.[5]
The rutting of the bharal starts towards late November and continues until mid-January. During the rut, male bharal use multiple strategies for mating, namely tending, blocking, and coursing.[10] Their lambs are born in late June and July.
The bharal is categorised as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The population faces threats - poaching for meat and competition with livestock. Poaching, however, is uncommon due to the unsuitable conditions of its habitat. Similarly, livestock do not generally frequent the mountainous regions where bharal occur; even if they do coexist, no notable detrimental effect on the bharal has been observed.[1]
Many Buddhist monasteries protect the bharal found around them, but lately, issues of crop damage caused by bharal have started to arise in areas such as the Spiti Valley.
The bharal (Pseudois nayaur), also called the blue sheep, is a caprine native to the high Himalayas. It is the only member of the genus Pseudois. It occurs in India, Bhutan, China (in Gansu, Ningxia, Sichuan, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia), Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. The Helan Mountains of Ningxia have the highest concentration of bharal in the world, with 15 bharals per km2 and 30,000 in total.
Its native names include yanyang (岩羊) in Mandarin, bharal, barhal, bharar, and bharut in Hindi, na or sna in Tibetan and Ladakh, nabo in Spitian, naur in Nepali and na or gnao in Bhutan. The bharal was also the focus of George Schaller 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 prey of the snow leopard.
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