Hemitragus jemlahicus

Geographic Range

Hemitragus jemlahicus is native to the southern flanks of the Himalaya Mountains from northern India east to Bhutan, as far north as Tibet. It has been widely introduced elsewhere for hunting. After introduction to New Zealand in 1904 it spread to all the suitable habitat there. There are also introducted populations in New Mexico, California, Ontario, and South Africa.

(Forsyth and Hickling 1998; Kingel; Tustin 1990; Williams 2001)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic nearctic
  • introduced introduced
• palearctic palearctic
  • native native
• oriental oriental
  • native native
• ethiopian ethiopian
  • introduced introduced
• australian australian
  • introduced introduced

Habitat

In the Himalayas, Hemitragus jemlahicus prefers rugged wooded hills and mountains slopes in the subalpine and alpine regions from 3500-4500 meters in elevation. It may also seasonally use mixed oak forests as low as 2500 meters and alpine meadows as high as 5000 meters.

In New Zealand H. jemlahicus lives on grassy mountain slopes, large rock bluff systems, snow tussok basins, and the uppermost subalpine scrubland from 750-2250 meters in elevation. It prefers north and north-east facing slopes, which are sunnier and have less snow accumulation in the winter.

(Klingel; Tustin 1990)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate temperate

• Terrestrial Biomes
• scrub forest scrub forest
• mountains mountains

Physical Description

Hemitragus jemlahicus has relatively short legs and a small head. Males are large than females. Males average 73 kg in weight while females average 36 kg. Their hooves are well-adapted for their mountain habitat, with a hard rim of keratin surrounding a soft spongy convex pad. These hooves and strong dewclaws allow them to be excellent climbers.

The adult male in winter has a dark face and muzzle, sides and hindquarters black to red-brown, a reddish rump patch, and a lighter underside. It has a thick ruff or mane around its neck and shoulders and down its front legs. Older males are darker, with a light band along the flanks and a dark mid-dorsal line. The mane may be as long as 250 cm and is slate grey to straw-colored. The adult female in winter is grey to brown with a darker muzzle and legs and a light underside. The summer coat in adults of both sexes is shorter and lighter brown to straw-colored. Young are uniformly brown except for the front of their legs, which are black.

Both sexes have horns which curve up, back, and then in. They are laterally flattened, triangular in cross-section, and have a keel on the front edge. Males have longer horns (up to 450 mm) than females (up to 190 mm).

(Forsyth 1998; Huffman; Tustin 1990)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic endothermic
• bilateral symmetry bilateral symmetry

Reproduction

In the Himalayas, the rut runs from mid-October to mid-January. In New Zealand, the rut runs from April to July and peaks in May or early June. The difference in breeding season is due the six-month shift in seasons between the northern and southern hemispheres. Captive animals that are transplated to the opposite hemisphere shift their breeding cycles in two years or less. During the rut, younger males will follow groups of females and attempt, generally unsuccessfully, to mate with any female. Older males will follow and defend individual oestrus females. The mating display consists of a male standing facing a female, at a right angle to her, with his head and muzzle high and his mane erect and hiding his horns. This is followed by a series of head nods and brief copulation. The competitive display involves two males walking stiffly parallel to each other, with their mane and dorsal ridge erect, their heads down, and their horns exposed. The victor will either move to block the path of his opponent or chase him away. Only rarely does the competitive display lead to direct head-to-head wrestling, which in Hemitragus jemlahicus has been described as "half-hearted" relative to other horned or antlered mammals.

(Forsyth 1998, Forsyth and Hickling 1998, Huffman; Pare, Barrette, and Prescott 1996, Tustin 1990)

• Mating System
• polygynous polygynous

Females leave their groups to give birth. The kid is able to nurse within a few minutes and can walk within three hours. Mother and kid return to the group after a few days. Twins are very rare in the wild, but occur more frequently in captivity. In the Himalayas, births occur from mid-April to mid-July. In New Zealand, the median birth date is 30 November. Females are fecund at 2 years. Captive females can concieve at up to 18 years old, although they rarely live that long in the wild. Males are fecund at 2 years, but rarely have successful access to females until 4 years old.

(Forsyth 1998; Haysen, van Tienhoven, and van Tienhoven 1993; Pare, Barrette, and Prescott 1996; Tustin 1990)

• Key Reproductive Features
• seasonal breeding seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual sexual
• fertilization fertilization
  • internal internal
• viviparous viviparous

Young stay in their mothers group until two years old, when the males disperse to form male-only groups. Females do not disperse.

(Tustin 1990)

• Parental Investment
• altricial altricial
• female parental care female parental care
• post-independence association with parents

Lifespan/Longevity

Normal lifespan is 10-14 years, although individuals up to 22 years old have been reported. Females live longer than males. Accidental death due to rock slides or avalanches is not uncommon.

(Huffman; Pare, Barrette, and Prescott 1996; Tustin 1990)

Behavior

Hemitragus jemlahicus is most active in the early morning and late afternoon, 3-4 hours post-dawn and pre-dusk. It spends over half the daylight hours resting. It has a daily vertical migration, moving upslope in the morning, resting there in the middle of the day, and moving downslope for the night.

H. jemlahicus lives in herds of 2-23 animals. Outside of the breeding season, males usually live in seperate groups from females and young (under 2 years old), with males older than four years often seperate from younger males. Groups that include males are larger than all-female groups. There is no apparent dominance hierachy within groups.

(Forsyth 1998; Forsyth and Hickling 1997; Huffman; Nowak 1995; Tustin 1990)

• Key Behaviors
• crepuscular crepuscular
• motile motile
• migratory migratory
• social social

Communication and Perception

• Perception Channels
• tactile tactile
• chemical chemical

Food Habits

Hemitragus jemlahicus has had a significant negative effect on the native flora of New Zealand, which has no native herbivores. During the winter it eats less due to poor food quality and high metabolic costs. It eats alpine herbs and subalpine scrubland plants.

(Forsyth 1998; Forsyth, Parkes, and Hickling 2000; Huffman; Tustin 1990)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore herbivore
  • folivore folivore

• Plant Foods
• leaves

Predation

In the Himalayas, Hemitragus jemlahicus is preyed on by the snow leopard, Uncia uncia . In New Zealand and other areas it has been introduced, its only predator is humans.

(Huffman)

Ecosystem Roles

Hemitragus jemlahicus has had a significant negative affect on the native flora of New Zealand, which has no native herbivores.

(Forsyth 1998; Forsyth, Parkes, and Hickling 2000; Tustin 1990)

• Ecosystem Impact
• biodegradation biodegradation

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Hemitragus jemlahicus is widely hunted for sport and trophies. It is also hunted for meat.

(Davys, Forsyth, and Hickling 1998; Forsyth 1998)

• Positive Impacts
• food food
• body parts are source of valuable material

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

Hemitragus jemlahicus has had a significant negative affect on the native flora of New Zealand, which has no native herbivores.

(Forsyth 1998; Forsyth, Parkes, and Hickling 2000; Tustin 1990)

Conservation Status

In its native habitat, Hemitragus jemlahicus now survives only as remnant populations due to hunting and habitat loss. In areas where it was introduded, it is doing well, but is often heavily managed.

(Forsyth, Parkes, and Hickling 2000; Tustin 1990)

Additional Links

Encyclopedia of Life

Contributors

Sara Kennedy (author), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Kate Teeter (editor), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

References

Davys, T., D. Forsyth, G. Hichling. August 8, 1998. "The Royal Society of New Zealand: New Zealand Journal of Zoology Abstracts" (On-line). Accessed November 19, 2001 at http://www.rsnz.govt.nt/publish/nzjz/1999/1.php .

Forsyth, D., G. Hickling. 1997. An improved technique for indexing abundance of Himalayan thar. New Zealand Journal of Ecology , 21(1): 97-101.

Forsyth, D., G. Hickling. 1998. Increasing Himalayan tahr and decreasing chamois densities in the eastern Southern Alps, New Zealand: evidence for interspecific competition. Oecologia , 113: 377-382.

Forsyth, D., J. Parkes, G. Hickling. 2000. A case for multi-species managemt of sympatric herbivore pest impacts in the central Southern Alps, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Ecology , 24(1): 97-103.

Forsyth, D. 1998. Long-term harvesting and male migration in a New Zealand population of Himalayan tahr *Hemitragus jemlahicus*. Journal of Applied Ecology , 36 (3): 351-362.

Haysen, V., A. van Tienhoven, A. van Tienhoven. 1993. Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data . Ithaca and London: Cornell University PRess.

Huffman, B. "The Ultimate Ungulate PAge" (On-line). Accessed November 19, 2001 at http://www.ultimateungulate.com/tahrhim.html .

Klingel, J. "Biota Information System of New Mexico BISON" (On-line). Accessed November 19, 2001 at http://www.cnr.vt.edu/fishex/nmex_main/species/050818.htm .

Nowak, R. 1995. "Walker's Mammals of the World Online" (On-line). Accessed November 19, 2001 at http://www.press.jhu.edu/books/walker/artiodactyla.bovidae.hemitragus.html .

Pare, P., C. Barrette, J. Prescott. 1996. Seasonal reproduction of captive Himalayan tahrs (*Hemitragus jemlahicus*) in relation to latitude. Journal of Mammalogy , 77(3): 826-832.

Tustin, K. 1990. Himalayan Tahr. Pp. 392-406 in The Handbook of New Zealand Mammals . Auckland: Oxford University Press.

Williams, D. April 5, 2001. "Checklist of California Mammals" (On-line). Accessed November 19, 2001 at http://arnica.csustain.edu/esrpp/calilist.htm .