The Shapo, or Urial 



THE SHAPO, OR URIAL 



(Ovis vignei) 



Native Names. — Sha^ Shapo (male), Shamo (female), 

 Ladaki ; Urin^ in Astor ; Guch (male), Mish 

 (female), Persian ; Koh-i-dumba (mountain sheep), 

 Pushtu ; Koch^ Gad (male), Garand (female), 

 Baluchi and Sindi ; Kar (male), Gad (female), 

 Brahui ; Urial^ Punjabi 



(Plate iii, figs. 3, 4, 4<^) 



The sha or shapo of Astor and Ladak and the 

 urial (oorial) of the Punjab Salt Range are local races 

 of a species distinguishable at a glance from both of the 

 preceding kinds of wild sheep by its greatly inferior 

 size and lighter horns. And since there is no possibility 

 of mistaking the present animal for either of the latter, 

 its description may be brief. 



The species is closely allied to Ovis orientaliSj 

 the wild sheep of Armenia and North-Eastern Persia, 

 of which the so-called O. ophion of the Troodos 

 Mountains of Cyprus is nothing more than a local race. 

 In both species the colour of the coat tends more or less 

 markedly to rufous chestnut, the rams have a large ruff 

 of long hair on the throat, and the ewes develop small 

 horns. The urial, or shapo, is distinguished by the 

 colour tending very generally to fawn, but more 

 especially by the forward curvature of the horns, which 

 sweep along the sides of the face, and show more or 

 less pronounced angles bordering the flattened tront 

 surface. The old rams do not show the light saddle- 

 mark so conspicuous in the Armenian wild sheep. So 

 far as can at present be determined, four local forms, or 

 races, of urial may be recognised, their distinctness from 

 one another being based partly on actual physical 

 differences and partly on geographical distribution. 



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