During the first 4 months before weaning, young lambs rapidly put on body weight and increase in size. Muscle tone and coordination are further developed during nursing. Until about age two social skills are learned. A one year old could mate physiologically but does not have necessary social skills. Social skills are important since sheep are very social animals and spend their entire lives in groups. By age 5 an Argali sheep is fully mature. A sheep lives on average for about 10 years with some rams living up to 20 years.
(Nowak 1995)
Argali sheep stay in areas inaccessible to predators, such as high on hills or on steep embankments with good viewpoints.
Due to their large size, Argali sheep are poor jumpers and do not usually jump as an escape techniwque, although this is a more common practice in the smaller females and young animals. Powerful long legs help these sheep run over all types of terrain.
To avoid predation all animals in a herd move together and stay with group. If an Argali sheep is alone, it will sometimes remain motionless in the hope of being overlooked by a predator. Using the horns for defense is very uncommon.
Predators of Argali sheep are wolves, snow leopards, and leopards. They have also been heavily hunted by humans.
Known Predators:
Ovis ammon is the largest of the world’s sheep, weighing in between 60 and 185 kg. Shoulder height is between 90 and 125 cm. Horns are a prominent feature on these animals. They have a corkscrew shape with rounded combat edges. Males and females both have horns, although the horns of females are smaller. The male’s horns can be up to 190 cm in length, measured along the coil.
The coloration of the argali sheep is two-toned with a dark band running laterally along the belly, separating the dark brown upper half from the pale hair below. Argali sheep have a distinct, light rump patch and pale face. Males generally have a light colored neck. The coat is shed twice yearly, with the summer coat being darker and the winter coat having a longer hair length.
Range mass: 60 to 185 kg.
Average mass: 160 kg.
Range length: 120 to 190 cm.
Average length: 180 cm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: male larger; sexes colored or patterned differently; ornamentation
The lifespan of Argali sheep is on average 10 to 13 years. Predators and extreme climatic conditions kill older sheep, so maximum lifespan is seldom achieved. Males can generally live longer than females.
Range lifespan
Status: wild: 1 to 20 years.
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 10-13 years.
Typical lifespan
Status: wild: 7 to 11 years.
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 10 years.
Argali sheep usually occupy the same areas for the duration of their lives. They are found at upper elevations on steep slopes above 1000 m. Adult males are larger and faster than females, and do not have as great a need to avoid predators. They therefore choose prime vegetative habits that are more exposed than are those chosen by females and young rams. During summertime as food becomes available, higher elevations are chosen by all animals.
The landscape of central Asia is vast and mostly open. Mountains have been worn down by erosion and huge sloping hills remain, allowing a great range of visibility for the animals which live there. Vegetation is dominated by grasses, with very few trees present on the landscape.
Range elevation: 1000 to 6000 m.
Average elevation: 3000 m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: mountains
Argali sheep are found in mountainous areas in central Asia above 1000 m. This species has a wide range with several localized subspecies recognized. The range of the argali sheep covers the Irtysh River and Altrai Mountains in Siberia, south to the Himalayas in Tibet. It stretches to cover the land west to the Oxus river near Afghanistan, and eastward to the Mongolian plateau.
Biogeographic Regions: palearctic (Native )
The landscape inhabited by these sheep is free of trees, but plentiful in food easily and efficiently digested. Argali sheep are herbivorous and feed on grasses, herbs, and sedges. Females and young rams feed in higher altitude terrain with diminished food quality. These feeding locations provide easy escape protection from predators. Adult males feed in lower terrain with higher food quality and use fast, sustained running to evade predators.
Argali sheep are grazers that have adapted to survive in an arid, windy and extreme climate of their high altitude home.
Plant Foods: leaves; seeds, grains, and nuts
Primary Diet: herbivore (Folivore , Granivore )
Argali sheep play a role in plant succesion, because their feeding habits allow grasses to flourish over sedges. This species is also a very important prey item for endangered snow leopard populations.
Ecosystem Impact: disperses seeds
O. ammon benefits humans by providing meat and hair for native subsistence hunters. The clothing made from this animal's hair, as well as the food it provides, can be essential for survival.
Sport hunters enjoy trophy killing the world’s largest sheep. The lure of largest sheep has become a goal for many hunters willing to pay any cost for such a trophy. Revenue is raised on tourism and expedition costs, helping local peoples by providing an important source of currency.
In recent years ecotourism has increased, bringing even more financial gains to the region.
Positive Impacts: food ; ecotourism
O. ammon negatively affects humans by competing with livestock for grazing lands. But mostly Argali sheep are in remote areas not used by domestic livestock. It is more likely that the domestic sheep raised by humans have negatively affecte Argali sheep, pushing them into more remote, lower quality habitats.
The IUCN classifies the entire species O. ammon as vulnerable. Sport hunting has been damaging to the species, with the lure of attaining a trophy from the world’s largest sheep. Since the nineteenth century, hunting has removed this species from some of its former range. O. ammon longer present in northeastern China, southern Siberia and parts of Mongolia.
Overall numbers of individuals and dispersal have declined. Recent problems for this species include habitat loss due to competition with domestic livestock and humans encroaching.
It is interesting to note that the threats to O. ammon can also be threats to the populations of their predators, such as snow leopards, which depend greatly on a stable supply of these sheep for their own diet.
US Migratory Bird Act: no special status
US Federal List: endangered
CITES: appendix i; appendix ii
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: near threatened
These sheep communicate with hissing through the nostrils or grunts from the throat. Communication is important for mother and young and is based on visual, oral and scent confirmations. Also, communication through scent glands is not well understood but thought to be important for sexual signaling. Males can smell females that are fertile and ready to mate. Distinctive pelage can be a lon-sidtance visual signal to other sheep of where other herds are. This information can be used by the sheep when deciding to avoid or join other groups.
Communication Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Other Communication Modes: pheromones ; scent marks
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
O. ammon is classified into seven subspecies: nigrimontana, hodsoni, jubata, darwini, ammon, polii and karelin. Some taxonomists also recognize the subspecies musimon, the European mouflon, although others see this as a distinct species.
Subspecies are distinguished by seasonal age related pelage differences, body size and geographic location.
Argali sheep have reduced in numbers over the past two hundred years and populations of all subspecies are on the decline. Greater habitat protection of Argali sheep is needed, with reduced hunting of trophy males, to protect this vulnerable species.
Mating is polygynandrous; numerous matings can occur in a season between many partners. A dominant male will mate with numerous females and will herd harems during the rut. Females will mate with numerous males if the opportunity arises. Such an opportunity may arise when the dominance among males changes or when a female leaves a herd to join another group.
Mating System: polygynandrous (promiscuous)
Reproductive habits of the world’s largest sheep can be quite extreme. Huge rams weighing 180 kg run head first into each other while in rut. They smash their horns together in intense combat designed to determine dominance relationshipes between males. Dominant males then mate with mature females in estrous.
Females are sexually mature at 2 years of age and males by 5 years. This differnce makes sense, because the males must grow so much larger than the females before they can breed.
The rut occurs in autumn and early winter, ensuring that lambs are born in the late spring. Females are fertile about every three weeks in the fall until they are impregnated.
Gestation lasts for 150 to 180 days. Females give birth to one or two lambs. Females separate from the herd to give birth and remain separated for a few days. During this time, the lamb lays motionless while the mother grazes. Lambs are precocial at birth, and can stand. Still, gaining body mass quickly is essential for survival.
A ewe can reproduce in her first year, although the majority of females wait for their second year. Females can produce young successfully for up to eight years.
After a lamb is a few months old, the relationship between mother and lamb ends. Lambs are wenaed around four months of age. Lambs usually form their own social groups.
Breeding interval: These sheep breed once per year.
Breeding season: Mating occurs in the autumn and early winter.
Range number of offspring: 1 to 2.
Range gestation period: 5.17 to 5.33 months.
Average gestation period: 8.5 months.
Range weaning age: 4 to 5 months.
Average weaning age: 4 months.
Average time to independence: 5 months.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 1 to 2 years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 2 years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 5 years.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (Internal ); viviparous
Average birth mass: 3400 g.
Average number of offspring: 1.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
Sex: male: 823 days.
Mothers care for young for about 4 months before weaning. Young sheep nurse before weaning, receiving milk high in fat protein and antibodies to help add body mass and sustain health and vitality. During nursing, young lambs also receive bacteria needed for ruminant digestion.
Males do not participate in care of the young.
Parental Investment: pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Female); extended period of juvenile learning
The Hindu Kush alpine meadow has an expanse of some 10,900 square miles, situated in northeastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. Most of the lands lie within the Hindu Kush Mountain Range inthe altitude bracket between 3000 to 4000 meters, and correspondingly most of the precipitation is in the form of snow. This ecoregion is classified within the Montane Grasslands and Shrublands biome.
This ecoregion manifests a low rate of vertebrate endemism; however there are ten special status mammals found here, ranging from the status of Endangered to Near Threatened. The Hindu Kush alpine meadow ecoregion consists of higher elevation terrain of moderate to severe slopes. Vegetation is often sparse or almost lacking, with resulting pastoral usage of low intensity grazing of goats and sheep in some areas. Soils are largely leptosols, but many areas are covered by large expanses of rock outcrop or rocky scree. In the limited areas of arable soils, wheat is sometimes farmed, although growing of opium poppies is the only cash crop. Most of the water available for plant and animal life is supplied by snowmelt. The Helmand River, Afghanistan's largest watercourse, represents the chief catchment within the ecoregion, with headwaters rising in the Hindu Kush Range, and eventual discharge to the endorheic Sistan Basin.
Special status mammals found in the Hindu Kush alpine meadow are: the Near Threatened argali (Ovis ammon), the Vulnerable Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus), the Near Threatened European otter (Lutra lutra), the Near Threatened leopard (Panthera pardus), the Endangered markhor (Capra falconeri), the Near Threatened mountain weasel (Mustela altaica), the Near Threatened Schreiber's long-fingered bat (Miniopteris schreibersi), the Endangered snow leopard (Uncia uncia), the Near Threatened striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) and the Endangered Moschus leucogaster. Special status birds in the Hindu Kush alpine meadow are represented by the Endangered Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopteris).
The argali (Ovis ammon), also known as the mountain sheep, is a wild sheep that roams the highlands of western East Asia, the Himalayas, Tibet, and the Altai Mountains.
The name 'argali' is the Mongolian word for wild sheep.[2] It is the largest species of wild sheep. Argali stand 85 to 135 cm (3 to 4 ft) high at the shoulder and measure 136 to 200 cm (4 to 7 ft) long from the head to the base of the tail. The female, or ewe is the smaller sex by a considerable margin, sometimes weighing less than half as much as the male, or ram. The ewes can weigh from 43.2 to 100 kg (95 to 220 lb) and the rams typically from 97 to 328 kg (214 to 723 lb), with a maximum reported mass of 356 kg (785 lb). The Pamir argali (also called Marco Polo sheep, for they were first described by that traveler), O. a. polii, is the largest race on average, regularly measuring more than 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) long without the tail, and is less sexually dimorphic in body mass than most other subspecies. The argali has relatively the shortest tail of any wild goat-antelope or sheep, with reported tail lengths of 9.5–17 cm (3.7–6.7 in).
The general coloration varies between each animal, from a light yellow to a reddish-brown to a dark grey-brown. Argali or nyan from the Himalayas are usually relatively dark, whereas those from Russian ranges are often relatively pale. In summertime, the coat is often lightly spotted with a salt-and-pepper pattern. The back is darker than the sides, which gradually lighten in color. The face, tail and the buttocks are yellowish-white. The male has a whitish neck ruff and a dorsal crest and is usually slightly darker in color than the female. Males have two large corkscrew shaped horns, some measuring 190 cm (6 ft 3 in) in total length and weighing up to 23 kg (51 lb). Males use their horns for competing with one another. Females also carry horns, but they are much smaller, usually measuring less than 60 cm (24 in) in total length.
Currently, 9 subspecies of argali are recognized:[3]
Some sources classify mouflon as Ovis ammon musimon, but DNA testing has not supported this. Several subspecies of argali have been genetically tested for mtDNA and one study found the subspecies O. a. ammon, O. a. darwini and the urial subspecies, O. vignei bochariensis grouped closely, while the subspecies O. a. collium and O. a. nigrimontana grouped with the urial subspecies O. vignei arkal.[4]
Argali range from central Kazakhstan in the west to the Shanxi Province in China in the east and from the Altai Mountains in the north to the Himalayas to the south. They are a species of mountainous areas, living from elevations of 300 to 5,800 m (980 to 19,030 ft). In protected areas, the species generally prefers gently sloping areas with soft broken terrain, although ewes with lambs often take up residence in more precipitous areas, characterized by canyons and jagged rocks. In areas where they are extensively hunted (such as Kazakhstan), they are more likely to be found in forested areas. In parts of China and Russia where they compete for resources with numerous domestic stock, argali more regularly take up residence in precipitous, jagged areas. Argali may search for regions in the mountains where snow cover is not heavy during the winter, following winds that blow snow off the earth. Rams are generally found at higher elevations more regularly than females and stay at higher elevations longer during the winter.[3]
Argalis live in herds typically numbering between two and 150 animals, segregated by sex, except during breeding season. Most populations show large numbers of adult females, constituting more than half of a local population, against around 20% adult males and a further 20% young argali. Some rams are solitary, but most are seen in small herds numbering between three and 30 individuals. Females and their young live in larger groups, regularly up to 92 individuals and exceptionally to 200 animals. Migrating herds, especially males, have been reported. Most migration appear to be related to seasonally decreased food sources, though an overabundance of biting insects (especially gadflies), severe drought or fires, poaching by humans, and large numbers of domestic livestock may also trigger movements. With their long legs, herds can travel quickly from place to place. Argali tend to live at higher elevations during the summer.[3]
Argali reach breeding maturity at two to three years of age. Rutting may occur from October to mid-January, generally lasting longer in lower elevations. In rutting herds, both rams and ewes attack others of their own sex, exerting dominance by ramming each other with their horns. Although such groups engage in lamb-like play, the combat of a pair of mature males is a serious business. The rams slam into each other, with their fore legs up in the air, exerting enough force to be heard up to 800 m (2,600 ft) away. Often, the older males (over six years of age), which are also often the largest, end up the dominant ones and younger males are chased off once the ewes are in estrus. Once dominance is established, the top rams begin approaching ewes and smell their urine to determine their receptiveness. The ram then repeatedly approaches the ewe and forcibly mounts her. Mating commences around two to three weeks after the rutting begins. Rams may remain in the company of ewes for up to two months after the rutting period is complete.[3]
The gestation period lasts a little over 165 days. Births occur in late March or April, with a variable number of females being barren. Most subspecies give birth to a single lamb, though in some races, twins are not uncommon and even as many as five have been born at once. At birth, the lambs weigh 2.7–4.6 kg (6–10 lb). The newborn lamb and mother ewe stay around where the birth occurs overnight and, on the next day, both usually walk together. Lambs often play in groups, jumping up and down together, sometimes being joined by their mothers. Weight gain is often quite fast and the lambs may weigh 10 times their birth weight by their first birthday. Females often attain their maximum mass by two years of age, but males appear to continue to grow larger and heavier in their third and fourth years. Milk teeth develop around three months of age, with a full set of teeth developing by around six months. By the time their teeth develop, lambs are capable grazers, but the ewes continue nursing them from August to May of the following year. Most argali live five to 10 years, but are capable of living 13 years in the wild.[3]
Adult argali eat 16–19 kg (35–42 lb) of food a day. The vegetation preferred by the species varies based on elevation and area. In higher elevations, they predominantly eat grasses, sedges, and forbs. At midelevation habitats, they more regularly feed on bushes and mesophyte grasses. In the lowest ranges and the spurs of deserts, grasses and sedges again predominate, but often of different species than the high-elevation ones. In north-central Kazakhstan, sprouts, leaves, flowers, and fruits are significant to the diet all year, whereas they appear to be a rare dietary supplement over the rest of the range. Water is needed by argali, which is rarely a problem for animals living at high elevation, where melting snow and small waterways are regularly encountered. In drier climes, argali may travel several kilometers in search of water. When available, argali readily consume saline soil.[3]
Although they are locally sympatric with Siberian ibex, the two species have differing habitat and pasture preferences, reducing likely competition. In Tibet, the argali must regularly compete with other grazing species for pasture, including Tibetan antelope, bharal, Thorold's deer and wild yaks. Competition is most serious with livestock, especially domestic yak and domestic sheep, with which argali are frequently forced to intermingle and from which they often catch diseases and parasites. The main predators of argali are Himalayan wolves, which often exploit harsh winter conditions (such as deep snow) to capture the wild sheep, though they can and do take specimens of any age or condition year around.[5] Where not locally extirpated, snow leopards and leopards are also predators of argali of any age. Eurasian lynx and wolverines may seldom kill argali to at least the size of winter-weakened ewes. Red foxes and domestic dogs (largely those kept by sheep-herders) will prey on lambs. Cinereous vultures, lammergeiers and golden eagles have been observed circling herds of ewes with lambs in a possibly predatory manner and remains of argali lambs have been observed in golden eagle nests. Smaller predators, such as raptorial birds and smaller mammalian carnivores, are attacked by mother ewes, but in the presence of larger predators, the ewes quickly run away with the lambs following them.[3]
Argali are considered a near threatened species, due to domestic livestock ranching and hunting, among other things.[1] As the world's largest sheep, the lure to gather a trophy specimen is strong among sports-hunters. They are hunted for both their meat and their horns, used in traditional Chinese medicine, and poaching continues to be a major (and difficult to manage) problem. Argali have been extirpated from northeastern China, southern Siberia, and parts of Mongolia. Populations of predators such as Himalayan wolves and snow leopards have appeared to have been negatively affected by the scarcity of argali.[6]
In Pakistan-administered Kashmir, it is listed as an endangered species.[7]
However, findings in the mitochondrial genome relationship and the development of interspecies nuclear transfer embryos between Argali and sheep could help in conserving the species in the long run.[8][9]
ProPublica revealed on December 11, 2019, that the government of Mongolia retroactively granted Donald Trump Jr. a hunting permit for the endangered Argali mountain sheep.[10] The sheep hunt and travel to Ulaanbaatar for a private meeting with Mongolian president Khaltmaagiin Battulga cost US taxpayers $76,859.36 for United States Secret Service protection,[11] according to two Freedom of Information Act requests by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).[12][13] Humane Society International wildlife vice president Teresa Telecky said, "For trophy hunters to travel to Mongolia to kill a beautiful and endangered ram is an absolute outrage."[14]
The argali (Ovis ammon), also known as the mountain sheep, is a wild sheep that roams the highlands of western East Asia, the Himalayas, Tibet, and the Altai Mountains.
