Argali
Sheep are the largest and most impressive of the wild sheep. The
argali was described by Linnaeus
in 1758. Wild sheep Argali live in hilly terrain near high mountains
at elevations of 4,200 - 19,500 feet, in Mongolia. Argali is the
largest sheep in the world.
These
majestic mammals appear to be declining and are listed as threatened
or endangered throughout their range. Mongolia’s democratization
a decade ago has led to rising livestock levels and an increase
in poaching, both by subsistence hunters for meat and commercial
hunters for horns used in traditional Chinese medicine. Legal trophy
hunting adds to the mortality, and the high fees hunters pay have
so far contributed almost nothing to the conservation of argali
populations.
Sadly,
Argali sheep are hunted commercially, contributing to their declining
numbers.
Under
Soviet rule, wildlife and protected-area management were funded
and functional. However, government funding decreased significantly
after the break-up of the Soviet Union. Wildlife management expertise
still exists, but the systems need to be rebuilt. The primary species
of SCI Foundation's Central Asian program are several mountain sheep
subspecies including Marco Polo, Karaganda Argali, and Mongolian
Argali. These are umbrella species for the mountain shrub step ecosystems
that goats and sheep depend on primarily in Mongolia, Russian Altai,
Kyrgyzstan Republic and Tajikistan Pamir.
Argali
and Marco Polo are listed as endangered on the US ESA and threatened
in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. US hunters are allowed to import trophies
from these three countries.
Argali
are the largest both in the body weight and horn size, of all sheep.
Three species of this group, namely Altai argali (Ovis ammon ammon),
Gobi argali (Ovis ammon darwini) and Hangai argali (Ovis ammon mongolica)
all exist in Mongolia. |
