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Species
Ammotragus lervia (Pallas, 1777)
IUCN
NCBI
EOL Text
A viable female offspring was produced when a female domestic goat was mated with a male Barbary sheep. This was confirmed by a backcross with a male Barbary sheep (Gray & Simpson, 1980; The Mammals of Texas - Online Edition, 1994).
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Rights holder/Author | ©1995-2013, The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors |
Source | http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Ammotragus_lervia/ |
The Barbary sheep has the distinction of being the only wild sheep species in Africa (4), and the only species in the genus Ammotragus (5). In appearance, it is somewhat of an intermediate between a sheep and a goat. It is a stocky, heavily built animal, with short legs and a rather long face (2). The coat, which is generally a sandy-brown colour (4), is woolly during the winter, but moults to a finer, sleek coat for the hot summer months (2). Both sexes have horns that sweep backwards and outwards in an arch; those of the male are much thicker, longer and more heavily ridged than the more slender horns of the female (2). Males also differ from females by their significantly heavier weight, (up to twice that of females) (2), and the notably longer curtain of hair that hangs from the throat, chest and upper part of the forelegs (2) (5). On males, this mane of long, soft hairs almost touches the ground (2) (5). The short tail, which is hairless on the underside, has scent glands (2).
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Rights holder/Author | Copyright Wildscreen 2003-2008 |
Source | http://www.arkive.org/barbary-sheep/ammotragus-lervia/ |
Barbary sheep are herbivorous, feeding on a variety of vegetation such as grass, forbs, and shrubs. Seasonal variation plays a role in determining their diet. In the winter, grass makes up the majority of food intake, while shrubs are the more common food the rest of the year (The Mammals of Texas - Online Edition, 1994).
Plant Foods: leaves
Primary Diet: herbivore (Folivore )
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Rights holder/Author | ©1995-2013, The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors |
Source | http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Ammotragus_lervia/ |
Native, resident.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Bibliotheca Alexandrina, BA Cultnat, Bibliotheca Alexandrina - EOL Ar |
Source | http://lifedesk.bibalex.org/ba/pages/453 |
Barbary sheep, also called auodads, originated in the hills of the Sahara and have inhabited all the major mountains of North Africa. In the late 1800s, Barbary sheep were introduced into Europe, including Germany and Italy. Around 1900, the first Barbary sheep were transferred to the United States to be placed in zoos. Surplus zoo stock was sold to private parties who eventually released some to the wild in New Mexico in 1950 and in Texas in 1957. This has allowed a wild population to develop in the southwestern United States (Gray & Simpson, 1980).
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Introduced ); palearctic (Introduced ); ethiopian (Native )
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Rights holder/Author | ©1995-2013, The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors |
Source | http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Ammotragus_lervia/ |
Comments: Diet changes seasonally. In New Mexico, woody browse and grasses were major food source in spring, summer and fall; grasses were principal winter food.
Classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List (1) and listed on Appendix II of CITES (3). Subspecies: Ammotragus lervia ornata (Egyptian Barbary Sheep) is classified as Extinct in the Wild (EW) on the IUCN Red List (1).
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Copyright Wildscreen 2003-2008 |
Source | http://www.arkive.org/barbary-sheep/ammotragus-lervia/ |
The Auodad was formerly widespread in rugged and mountainous terrain from deserts and semi-deserts to open forests in North Africa, but has suffered a strong decline due to poaching and competition from domestic stock. The ranges of the six supposed subspecies can be summarized as follows (following Cassinello in press, and references therein):
Ammotragus lervia lervia (Atlas Aoudad) occurs in the mountains of Morocco, except the western half of the Rif, and in northern Algeria and northern Tunisia.
A. l. ornata (Egyptian Aoudad) was formerly quite widespread throughout the Eastern and Western Desert of Egypt and was actually thought extinct (see Amer 1997). However, Wacher et al. (2002) reported evidence of the presence of Aoudad in both the Elba Protected Area and the Western Desert between 1997 and 2000 (and see Manlius et al. 2003).
A. l. blainei (Kordofan Aoudad) were once relatively widespread from west Sudan to the Red Sea coast, but currently are probably restricted to the Red Sea hills of east Sudan (Nimir 1997). Contrary to Mekonlau and Daboulaye (1997), this is the subspecies that may occur in the Ennedi and Uweinat mountains in northeast Chad (Alados et al. 1988). It may also be present in southeastern Libya.
A. l. fassini (Libyan Aoudad) is found only in extreme southern Tunisia and in Libya.
A. l. angusi (Ar Aoudad) inhabit the Ar Massif (Niger) and Termit Massif (Niger).
A. l. sahariensis (Saharan Aoudad) has the largest range of the subspecies, including southern Morocco and Western Sahara, southern Algeria, south-west Libya, Sudan, the mountains of the Adrar de Iforas in Mali, Niger, Mauritania, and the Tibesti Massif. There were no reliable reports of the species in the Western Sahara since the surveys of Valverde (1957), but the possibility of their survival in the Oued El Dahab was noted by Aulagnier and Thvenot (1997), and the species was recently rediscovered in this country (Cuzin 2003; Cuzin et al. in press).
Auodad have been introduced into the United States, northern Mexico, Spain (mainland and the Canary Islands (La Palma)) (Gray and Simpson 1980; Grubb 2005). These introduced populations are not mapped.
The species occurs from 200 to 4,100 m asl (Cuzin 2003).
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Rights holder/Author | International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources |
Source | http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/1151 |
Minimum home range size of one radio-collared male in Texas 0.98 sq km in winter, 19.26 sq km in summer. Population density 0.4-2.4 per sq km in different areas of U.S. (Gray and Simpson 1983). Competes with native ungulates.
For many years now the Texas Park and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has been using “lethal” methods to control aoudad sheep as well as other “non-native” species. It would appear as if the primary strategy has been and continues to be flying around in helicopters and eliminating all available aoudad or mowing down every aoudad they see. According to the TPWD websitehttp://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/bighorn/ this strategy was implemented to reduce competition with Native game species specifically Desert Bighorn.
License | http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Brandt Buchanan, Brandt Buchanan |
Source | http://www.highdesertwma.com/blog/the-war-on-aoudad |