Argali in Kazakhstan

Argali in Kazakhstan or mountain sheep. The main habitats of argali in Kazakhstan are the Karatau, Tien Shan, Dzungarian Alatau, Tarbagatai, Saur, Kalba and Southern Altai mountains, Chu-Ili mountains and the Kazakh Highlands. The animal is quite large at the withers, reaching 125 cm and weighing up to 180 kg. The horns that the male and female have are very beautiful, the male’s horns reach a large size, are twisted in the form of a spiral and their tops are directed to the sides, the females have small horns, also curved back, arhar2109 but never form a spiral. The color of the ram's fur is brownish-brown on the back and sides; the lower neck, belly and groin have whitish fur; the light coloring also extends to the buttocks. In general, the ram looks very graceful. The sheep's habitats in Kazakhstan are mountainous areas of varying heights with relatively soft terrain. If there is sufficient food and in the absence of hunting for it, argali lead a relatively sedentary lifestyle. In such places, only minor vertical migrations are observed, during which the rams climb to higher areas in the summer and descend down in the winter. In the Dzungarian Ala-Tau, sheep migrations occur as domestic animals are constantly grazed in those places. During the hot period of the day, sheep are observed to move to higher areas, sometimes close to glaciers, and at night they descend lower. The most active period of activity for rams occurs in the morning and evening hours. Rams are a herd animal, and only in the spring do the herds begin to break up and pregnant females separate from them. Then the females and lambs stay separately for some time, and only towards the end of summer do the animals unite into herds. During the rut, males fight among themselves for females; the rutting season for rams occurs in October-November. Lambs are usually born in April-May. Currently, the argali population is growing and, for example, Karaganda environmentalists propose to allow hunting for argali. Officially, argali hunting is prohibited; as an experiment in the Karaganda region, licenses for shooting argali were issued to foreign guests, which brought the treasury 53 million tenge. Animals of Kazakhstan