Conservation, Management and Threats to Markhor Population in Pakistan: An Overview.

Pakistan has a wide variety of wild goats and sheeps belonging to subfamily Caprinae and family bovidae. There are seven Caprinae species which are found in Pakistan, and further partitioned into 12 subspecies. Markhor is one of the members of family Bovidae and subfamily Caprinae, which was rstly portrayed by Wagner in 1839. The word Markhor is imitative of Persian linguistic means snake eater. However, it is mostly considered as Pashto driven word "MAR Akhkar". "MAR" represents snake and "Akhkar" to horns. Later on passage of time, the word became Markhor.

On the basis of horns Markhor has two sub-species such as straight horned and are horned Markhor. The straight horned Markhor further divided into Kabul and Suleiman Markhor while, are horned Markhor into Astor and Kashmir Markhor, The markhor is also divided into five types that are found in Pakistan and recognized as Astor Markhor (Capra falconeri falconeri), Kashmir or Pir Panjal Markhor (Capra falconeri cashmiriensis), Kabul Markhor (Capra falconeri megaceros), Suleiman Markhor (Capra falconeri jerdoni), and Chiltan markhor (Capra falconeri chialtanensis). The first four are known as subspecies of markhor while the Chilton markhor is a type of wild goat, with its own unique characteristics and habitat in the Chiltan Mountains of Pakistan .




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Safeguard this majestic species for generations to come.

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