590 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Pamir Argali; Marco Polo's Sheep 



Ovis AMMON POLII Blyth 



Ovis Polii Blyth, Proe. Zool. Soc. London 1840, p. 62, 1841. ("Pamir." Ac- 

 cording to Lydekker (1898c, p. 191), the type was obtained "on the 

 high plateau near Lake Siri Kol [= Victoria Lake], at an elevation of 

 about 16,000 feet." This lake is in the Wakhan district, northeastern 

 Afghanistan.) 



FIGS.: Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. 7, pi. 5, fig. 1, 1841; Proc. Zool. Soc. Lon- 

 don 1875, pp. 514-515, figs. 4, 4a, 5, 5a; De Poncins, 1895, pi. facing p. 53; 

 Lydekker, 1898c, pi. 16, p. 189, fig. 37, p. 201, fig. 39; Lydekker, 1900, 

 p. 79, fig. 11, pi. 3, figs. 1, la; Lydekker, 1913a, p. 282, fig.; Lydekker, 

 1913c, vol. 1, p. 107, fig. 33; Royal Nat. Hist, vol. 2, p. 221, fig., 1894; 

 Carruthers, 19156, pi. 52; Nasonov, 1923, pi. 9, fig. 2; Morden, 1927, pis. 

 facing pp. 95, 106; Jour. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. 36, no. 4, suppl, 

 pi. 10, 1933; Ward, 1935, p. 289, fig.; Leister, 1935, p. 60, fig. 



This famous sheep has actually increased during the past 20 

 years on the Alai plain and in part of the Russian Pamirs (W. G. 

 Heptner, in litt., December, 1936), but in the Tagdumbash or 

 Chinese Pamirs its numbers have been reduced. 



"Horns slender and forming a more open and outwardly extended 

 spiral than in any of the other races ; length of fine specimens 69 to 

 75 ... inches. . . . General colour . . . light speckled brown; 

 most or all of face, throat, chest, under-parts, buttocks, and legs 

 white or whitish, the white extending largely on to outer side of 

 thighs; a blackish streak from nape to withers; no distinct throat- 

 ruff. In winter the hair considerably longer, forming a white ruff 

 on throat and chest and a darkish crest from nape to withers. . . . 

 In females, which have no ruff, the front of the neck is brown in 

 winter, while in summer there is no dark stripe from nape to tail." 

 (Lydekker, 1913c, vol. 1, p. 107.) Height at shoulder, 44 inches 

 (Morden, 1927, p. 92). 



Sushkin (1925, p. 149), following Nasonov (1923), gives the 

 range as "Pamir and Alai, south to Hunza, north to Khan-tengri." 

 On the other hand, Lydekker (1913a, p. 284) limits its northward 

 extension to the Alai, and distinguishes the animal of the south- 

 western Tian Shan as 0. a. humei. In the western Pamirs (e. g., 

 vicinity of Ishkashim) it is apparently replaced by some form of 0. 

 vignei (Nasonov, 1923, p. 86). It is "rarely found at elevations 

 below 10,000 and 11,000 feet" (Lydekker, 1898c, p. 192), and 

 ascends to more than 18,000 feet. 



According to De Poncins (1895, p. 61), "Big herds always consist 

 of females and young males." The herds of old males "spend the 

 summer in the highest and most remote nullahs, but in winter they 

 come lower down and many die of starvation in the spring." This 

 author estimated the number he saw during a single day near the 

 Great Pamir Lake at 600 head. 



