The Turkmen mountain sheep is also called Ustyurt and Kopetdag. The species is divided into three groups according to its distribution area: Kazakhstan (the most numerous), Turkmen and Karakalpak (almost completely extinct). The species was discovered in the 1830s, described in the 1850s, and already in the second half of the 20th century, mountain sheep were on the verge of extinction due to poachers and active economic activity in their habitat areas.
Appearance
Residents of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan call the mountain sheep “arkar”.During the study, the rare species was classified either as a mouflon (an Asian genus of sheep) or as a urial (Ustyurt mountain sheep). This is where various names for the species came from: “Ustyurt mouflon”, “Ustyurt mountain sheep”, “Trans-Caspian urial”. But a genotype study conducted by the Kazakhs in the 1990s confirmed that the Turkmen species belonged to the Urials.
Turkmen sheep are beautiful and stately. The description of the type is given in the table.
| Height at withers | 93-95 cm |
| Color | red in summer, turns reddish-yellow in winter |
| Horns | in males they exceed 90 cm in length, hollow, spirally twisted, in females they are small, arched |
| Breasts in males | decorated with a “collar” in the form of long (from 30 cm) wool hanging almost to the ground, white from the chin to the sternum, black closer to the belly |
Habitat
The Turkmen mountain sheep is endemic to the watershed of the Aral and Caspian seas. The main habitat areas are harsh steppe, semi-desert and desert areas of Turkmenistan, Ustyurt, Mangyshlak, Iran, Afghanistan, and the eastern Caspian coast.
Turkmen sheep, unlike other mountain relatives, do not climb higher than 500 m above the sea. They prefer to stay on steep slopes, hard-to-reach ledges, and low rocky outcrops.
Lifestyle and behavior
The Turkmen species is semi-sedentary. It wanders regularly, but not over long distances. In the summer season, animals graze from dawn until the midday heat, then hide in the shadow of the gorges. In the afternoon they come out of hiding and go out to pasture again.During the winter months, rams are active all day.
Turkmen arkars are herd animals. The herd is kept year-round; in summer there are fewer individuals and in winter there are more. The more prosperous the existence of the herd, the larger it is. On average, it consists of 5 heads, but, depending on living conditions, the number can range from 2 to 70 individuals.
Under natural conditions, Turkmen Urials exhibit territoriality to some extent, especially if the summer is hot and the number of watering places is reduced. Each herd feeds in a specific territory, which includes several pastures, shelters and watering holes. The movement of the herd within its territory is led by the leader - the strongest male or the oldest female. Animals move strictly along routes; as a result, over many years, the area is covered with a network of sheep trails.
What do they eat?
The food of Turkmen sheep is varied, including more than 80 species of desert and semi-desert plants.
The diet changes seasonally, becoming richest in the spring and summer:
- spring and summer – cereal grasses (bluegrass, feather grass), sedge;
- autumn and winter - astragalus, wormwood, solyanka.
Occasionally, sheep eat the leaves of caragana (yellow acacia), ephedra, and spur.
The herd goes to watering from mid-summer until snow falls. In winter, sheep get enough moisture by eating snow along with herbs. In spring, animals obtain a significant percentage of moisture by eating saltworts, the shoots of which remain juicy until mid-summer. Turkmen urials prefer fresh or slightly salty water.
Natural enemies
Only a few individuals survive to old age. Almost all sheep sooner or later become prey to predators. Natural enemies of the Turkmen arcara:
- The wolf is the main enemy of the species.The mortality rate of rams from wolf fangs in some years in the west of Ustyurt reached 70%.
- The caracal and golden eagle are small predators that hunt newborn lambs, which they can carry away. They are not scary for adults.
- Cheetah. Now the population of this predator in the region is extinct. But earlier the animal hunted goitered gazelles, saigas, and, to a lesser extent, mountain sheep.
The main enemy of the Turkmen sheep is not a beast of prey, but a human. Poaching has brought the species to the brink of extinction.
Reproduction and offspring
Mountain sheep reach sexual maturity at 2.5 years of age. At this age, females are already ready to mate, and males mature up to 4-6 years to become able to resist rivals. But if the population decreases significantly, the herd becomes small, then young males begin to participate in battles for females and leadership in the group, although their inexperience negatively affects the fate of the offspring.
On average, 70% of lambs die before reaching one year of age. And in herds headed by young, inexperienced males, this sad figure increases to 100%. The rut begins in October and lasts until December. There are, on average, 2.5 females per male. After the rut, the males leave the herd for the winter and feed separately.
Lambing occurs from late March to early May. The female leaves the herd and goes to give birth in a hard-to-reach, heavily cut gorge or on a middle-tier terrace. Gives birth to 1 or 2 cubs.
Population status and species protection
Being endemic to the Caspian and Aral watershed, the Turkmen mountain sheep needs strict protection. The ecological balance of its habitats is also in danger.The species is included in the Red Books of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and in Appendix II of the International Convention on Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora. Reasons for the decline in the number of Turkmen Arkar:
- weak supervision of hunting activities;
- poaching;
- habitat destruction from agricultural and industrial development;
- changes in climatic conditions, increased frequency of droughts, reduction of forage vegetation.
In 1978, Turkmen sheep lambs were born in the Kharkov and Ashgabat zoos, and in 1990 in Alma-Ata.
In the mountains of Ustyurt and Mangyshlak, the number of the species has decreased significantly, and in the territory of Karatau and Aktau the Turkmen sheep has disappeared. If in the 1960s there were 5-7 thousand individuals on the territory of Kazakhstan, then since the 2000s the population has been less than 2 thousand animals.
The Turkmen mountain sheep is protected in the Ustyurt National Reserve, Aktau-Buzachinsky and Karagie-Karakolsky nature reserves. 30% of the Kazakh population lives here.
