The Blue Sheep Ladakh or naur is a caprid found in the high Himalayas of Nepal, Tibet, China, India, Pakistan, and Bhutan. Its innate names include bharal, barhal, bharar and bharut in Hindi, na or sna in Ladakh, nabo in Spitian, naur in Nepali and na or gnao in Bhutan.
This medium-sized
Himalayan Blue Sheep
is 115 to 165 cm long lengthways the head-and-body, with a tail of 10 to 20 cm. Their height is 69 to 91 cm. Body mass can of Blue Sheep range from 35 to 75 kg. Males are marginally larger than females. The short, dense coat is slate grey in colour, sometimes with a bluish shine. 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 ribbed on the upper surface. In males, they grow upwards, then turn sideways and curve backwards, looking somewhat like an upside-down moustache. They may grow to a length of 80 cm. In females, the horns are much smaller and straighter, growing up to 20 cm long. Bharal are mostly grazers, however at the times of lack of grass that time they change to herbs and shrubs. Psuedovis Nahoor is deliberated as a low risk threatened species by the IUCN (1996).The height of the Psuedovis Nahoor is nearly 69 to 91 cm high. Male Himalayan bharal are somewhat bigger than female bharal
Himalayan Bharal are lively throughout the day, irregular between feeding and resting on the grassy mountain slopes. Due to their brilliant camouflage and the absence of cover in their environment, bharal remain motionless when approached. Once they have been noticed, however, they scurry up to the precipitous cliffs, where they once again freeze, using camouflage to blend into the rock face. Himalayan Blue Sheep are mostly grazers but during times of dearth of grass they have the plasticity to switch to herbs and shrubs. A high degree of diet overlap between livestock (especially donkeys) and bharal, together with density-dependent fodder limitation, results in resource competition and a decline in bharal density. Where they overlap, they are the chosen prey of snow leopards and leopards, with a few lambs falling prey to foxes or eagles.