Blue Sheep & Tahr in Nepal

Blue Sheep (pseudois nayaur nayaur) are strikingly handsome animals. Shoulder height 30–35″/75–90 cm. Weight 130–150 pounds/60–70 kg. Females are smaller than males. General color is brown-gray in summer, becoming bluish-gray in winter. The rump patch, belly, inside and back of legs, and the undersides of jaw are white. There is a conspicuous black stripe down the front of the legs, a horizontal black stripe dividing belly from flanks, and a dark facial mask. In adult males, front of neck and chest are black. The coat is harsh and springy, with thick underwool in winter. The dark, olive-colored, supracervical horns are like those of the Dagestan tur of the eastern Caucasus. Smooth and rounded, with heavy bases, they curve almost horizontally outward, then down and back above the neck with the tips pointing slightly up. In cross-section, they are almost square, with four pronounced edges and flat horn. Gregarious, associating in herds averaging 5–20, although sometimes as many as 100–200. Mating season is October-December. Habitat in open slopes and plateaus with abundant grass at altitudes of 9,800-18,000 feet/3,000-5,500 meters. Distribution from the Himalayas northward across the Tibetan Plateau to the Kunlun Shan and Nan Shan ranges, and from Hunza (Pakistan) and Ladakh (India) eastward to Sichuan and Gansu provinces of China, and extreme southwestern Inner Mongolia.

Himalayan Tahr (hemitragus jemlahicus) is an excellent game animal that provides sport as fine as any in the world. The Himalayan Tahr is one of three species of Tahr. Himalayan Tahrs have relatively short legs and small heads with large eyes and small pointed ears. Males are larger than females, they weigh between 80 and 200 pounds/35–90 kg. They are 26–40 inches/66–100 cm at the shoulder, and 4–5 ft/120–150 cm long. Their hooves have a hard keratin rim surrounding a soft spongy convex pad. Their hooves and their dewclaws make them excellent climbers. Both sexes have horns that curve up, back, and then in. They can grow up to 18 inches/45 cm long and are bigger on males than on females. In the winter Tahr has dense, reddish to dark brown woolly fur with a thick undercoat, which keeps it warm. The males will grow a long, shaggy mane around their neck and shoulders, which grows down to the upper parts of their legs. In the spring they lose much of their coat, and it becomes lighter in color.