BHARAL 387 
Skull and Horns of Bharal. 
The BHARAL or BLUE SHEEP (Ovis nahura). 
(Or Pseudois nahura.) 
Ta-sang-yang, Chinese. 
With horns not unlike those of Pallas’s tur, the bharal or blue 
sheep of Tibet differs from the goats by the absence of a beard 
and a strong odour in the males, and on account of these and other 
points of difference from the goats is placed among the sheep, of 
which group it forms a very aberrant member. The most distinctive 
external features are the comparatively smooth and olive-coloured horns, 
which curve at first outwards and then backwards from the sides of 
the head, and the bluish-grey colour of the thick fur of the back and 
sides, the flanks, under-parts, and legs being handsomely marked with 
black and white. Height at shoulder about 36 inches; weight about 
130 lbs. In the complete absence of glands on the face, and probably 
between the hoofs, the bharal differs from the more typical sheep and 
resembles the goats. 
Distribution—From Hunza, and Shigar, in Baltistan, and near Sanju, 
south-east of Yarkand, to Sze-chuen, and from the main axis of 
the Himalaya, or locally some distance south of the same, to the 
Kuenluen and Altyn Tag; in summer usually met with at eleva- 
tions between 14,000 and 16,000 feet, and apparently never found 
below about 10,000 feet. 
