International Day of the Markhor

 All five sub-species of Markhor are at the forefront of threats which include the habitat loss, low reproductive rates, lack of incentives, poaching, lack of operational funds, lack of public awareness and deforestation etc.. One of the major problems is habitat loss which plays a vital role in the extinction of Markhor and other wild animals. The factors which affect the habitat of Markhor are overpopulation of humans, more usage of wood, logs planks, pasturing, foraging and conquering of alien species. In 1975 Wildlife Act a cash reward is announced but no reward for the staff and insufficient investment demoted the workers. Lack of education is a hindrance in conservation. Regional community in KPK are ignorant of the social and economic welfare for renewable conservation of wildlife. So, it is noticed a lack of knowledge about wise use of wild species, lack of concentration, inadequate budget, and topographical isolation are some reasons for the extinction of hoofed species....

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...