Masters of camouflage and expert rock climbers, this goat-like animal lives in the mountains of the Himalayas.
Amazing Facts About the Bharal
- These goat-like animals live in the Himalaya’s of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, and Pakistan.
- Once thought to be sheep, recent studies of their DNA shows that they are more closely related to goats.
- They’re masters of disguise! Using their grey-ish coat colour to camouflage against rocky slopes and cliffs.
- They rarely stray further than 200m from a cliff as they use them as an escape route from predators. They are sure-footed climbers, able to move rapidly around the rocky, precipitous terrain of the Himalayan mountains.
- They generally avoid entering forests as they wouldn’t be camouflaged.
- They are a major food source of the snow leopard.
- The males are larger than the females with much bigger horns.
- The species is hunted by humans, but this doesn’t have a significant impact on their population numbers.
- The main threat to the Bharal is competition with livestock for food.