The urial (Ovis vignei), also known as arkars, shapo, or shapu, is a wild sheep native to Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

Taxonomy

Ovis vignei was the scientific name proposed by Edward Blyth in 1841 for wild sheep in the Sulaiman Mountains. The specific name honours Godfrey Vigne (1801–1863). The vignei subspecies group consists of six individual subspecies:

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 are up to 100 cm long. The shoulder height of an adult male urial is between 80 and 90 cm.

Distribution and habitat

The urial is native to montane areas in the Pamir Mountains, Hindu Kush and Himalayas up to an elevation of 4500 m. It is distributed from northeastern Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and southwestern Kazakhstan to northern Pakistan and Ladakh in northwestern India. It prefers grassland, open woodland and gentle slopes, but also inhabits cold arid zones with little vegetation.

Behaviour and ecology

The mating season begins in September. Rams select four or five ewes, which give birth to a lamb after a gestation of five months.