International Day of the Markhor

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 f...

The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed May 24th the International Day of the Markhor, Resolution A/RES/78/278 , and we celebrated it for the first time in 2024. We invite all Member States, organizations of the United Nations system, namely the United Nations Environment Programme, other international and regional organizations, civil society, non-governmental organizations, individuals and other relevant stakeholders to observe the International Day of the Markhor , as appropriate. We also invite all relevant stakeholders to give due consideration to enhancing international and regional cooperation in support of efforts to conserve the markhor , given its role in the overall ecosystem.