Editing Urial

{{Short description|Species of mammal}}
{{About|the sheep|other uses of the term|Uriel (disambiguation)}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Urial
| image = Ovis vignei bochariensis.jpg
| image_caption = Bukhara urial (''Ovis vignei bochariensis'') at [[Nordens Ark]], Sweden
| status = VU
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name=iucn>{{Cite iucn |title=''Ovis vignei'' |name-list-style=amp |errata=2021 |author1=Michel, S |author2=Ghoddousi, A. |date=2020 |page=e.T54940655A195296049 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T54940655A195296049.en |access-date=16 January 2022}}</ref>
| status2 = CITES_A1
| status2_system = CITES
| status2_ref = <ref name=iucn/>
| genus = Ovis
| species = vignei
| authority = ([[Edward Blyth|Blyth]], 1841)<ref name=Blyth1841>{{cite journal |author=Blyth, E. |year=1841 |title=An Amended List of the Species of the Genus ''Ovis'' |journal=The Annals and Magazine of Natural History; Zoology, Botany, and Geology |volume=7 |issue=44 |pages=248–261 |url=https://archive.org/details/annalsmagazineof07lond/page/248/mode/2up}}</ref>
| synonyms = ''Ovis orientalis vignei''
| range_map = Urial-map.png
| range_map_caption = The range of Urial
}}

The '''urial''' ({{IPAc-en|"|U@r|i|@|l}} {{respell|OOR|ee|əl}}; '''''Ovis vignei'''''), also known as '''arkars''', '''shapo''', or '''shapu''', is a wild [[Ovis|sheep]] native to [[Central Asia|Central]] and [[South Asia]]. It is listed as [[Vulnerable species|Vulnerable]] on the [[IUCN Red List]].<ref name=iucn/>

== Taxonomy==
''Ovis vignei'' was the [[scientific name]] proposed by [[Edward Blyth]] in 1841 for wild sheep in the [[Sulaiman Mountains]].<ref name="Blyth1841" /> The specific name honours [[Godfrey Vigne]] (1801–1863).<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Beolens |first1=Bo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I-kSmWLc6vYC&dq=ovis+vignei+vigne&pg=PA431 |title=The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals |last2=Watkins |first2=Michael |last3=Grayson |first3=Michael |date=November 18, 2009 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=9780801895333 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

The ''vignei'' subspecies group consists of six individual subspecies:

* '''Ladakh urial''' (''Ovis vignei vignei''): [[India]] ([[Ladakh]] and [[Kashmir]]), northern Pakistan 
* '''Transcaspian urial''' (''Ovis vignei arkal''): Ustjurt-Plateau (Turkmenistan, [[Uzbekistan]], northern Iran) and western [[Kazakhstan]]
*'''Blanford's urial''' or '''Baluchistan urial''' (''Ovis vignei blanfordi''): Pakistan (Balochistan)
*'''Bukhara urial''' (''Ovis vignei bochariensis''): Uzbekistan, [[Tajikistan]], Turkmenistan, Afghanistan

*'''Afghan urial''' or '''Turkmenian sheep''' (''[[Ustyurt Mountain sheep|Ovis vignei cycloceros]]''): southern [[Turkmenistan]], eastern [[Iran]], [[Afghanistan]], [[Pakistan]] (north [[Balochistan]])<ref>{{Cite web |title=Green Pioneers - Chapter 13 |url=http://www.un.org.pk/undp/sgp/green-pioneers/chap-13.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080703204340/http://www.un.org.pk/undp/sgp/green-pioneers/chap-13.htm |archive-date=2008-07-03 |access-date=2009-03-15}}</ref>
*'''Punjab urial''' (''Ovis vignei punjabiensis''):  provincial animal of [[Punjab, Pakistan]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kobilinsky |first=Dana |date=2023-07-26 |title=JWM: Connectivity could aid Pakistan's struggling wild sheep |url=https://wildlife.org/jwm-connectivity-could-aid-pakistans-struggling-wild-sheep/ |access-date=2023-07-31 |website=The Wildlife Society |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Characteristics ==
[[File:Ovis ammon vignei arkal Pretoria 3bis.jpg|thumb|Transcaspian arkals (''O. v. arkal'') at [[Pretoria Zoo]]]]
Urial males have large horns, curling outwards from the top of the head turning in to end somewhere behind the head; females have shorter, compressed horns. The horns of the males are up to {{Convert|100|cm|in|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} long. The [[shoulder]] height of an adult male urial is between {{Convert|80|and|90|cm|in|sigfig=2|abbr=on}}.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

== Distribution and habitat==
The urial is native to montane areas in the [[Pamir Mountains]], [[Hindu Kush]] and [[Himalayas]] up to an elevation of {{convert|4500|m|abbr=on}}. It is distributed from northeastern Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and southwestern Kazakhstan to northern Pakistan and Ladakh in northwestern India. It prefers [[grassland]], open woodland and gentle slopes, but also inhabits cold arid zones with little vegetation.<ref name=iucn/>

== Behaviour and ecology ==
The [[mating]] season begins in September. Rams select four or five ewes, which give birth to a lamb after a [[gestation]] of five months.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* Nowak R. M.: Walker's Mammals of the World, Sixth Edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, London, 1999.
* Namgail, T., van Wieren, S.E., Mishra, C. & Prins, H.H.T. (2010). Multi-spatial co-distribution of the endangered Ladakh urial and blue sheep in the arid Trans-Himalayan Mountains. Journal of Arid Environments, 74:1162-1169.
* Lingen, H.: Großes Lexikon der Tiere. Lingen Verlag, Köln.
* Prater, S. H.: The Book of Indian Animals, Oxford University Press, 1971.
* Menon, V.: A Field Guide to Indian Mammals, [[Dorling Kindersley]], India, 2003
* CITES Instruktion für den grenztierärztlichen Dienst
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030622212313/http://www.cites.org/eng/cop/11/prop/30.pdf Proposal about subspecies of Urial]
* Yahya M. Musakhel ''et al.'' 2006: Identification of Biodiversity Hot Spots in Musakhel District balochistan Pakistan.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Ovis vignei}}

* [http://www.wildsheep.org/sheep/international.htm Images of asiatic wild sheep subspecies]

{{Artiodactyla|R.3}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q839513}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ovis]]
[[Category:Mammals of Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Mammals of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Fauna of Iran]]
[[Category:Fauna of Ladakh]]
[[Category:Mammals of Central Asia]]
[[Category:Mammals described in 1841]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Edward Blyth]]