Altai Argali
- Scientific name: Ovis ammon
- Conservation status: Near Threatened (Population decreasing)
- Height: 85 – 140 cm (Adult, At Shoulder)
- Lifespan: 5 – 10 years (In the wild)
- Trophic level: Herbivorous Encyclopedia of Life
- Mass: Male: 97 – 180 kg (Adult), Female: 43 – 100 kg (Adult)
There are 9 subspecies of Argali – Wild sheep in the world. Altai Argali is the biggest among them. Argali are among endangered species and hunting is prohibited. Very fresh, sharp eyesight, good sense of smell. They are very mobile and can run about 40 to 60 if they afraid from something. Further, it can travel up to 200-300 kilometers.
Argali doesn’t like the sun that much. During the day, it always follows the meadow and ravine to hide from the sun. In order to protect the baby from the prey, the mother argali would be vigilant all day long, teaching the baby how to hide, and when the danger approached, it countered the danger.
Age can be determined by counting the intervals between intervals in the argali horn. Altai’s Argali’s horns average 60 inches or 1.5 meters in length. It can live 13 years at maximum. The poachers often kill them because of the horn. Each year, 26-30 entities are allowed to take a number of pungent hunts with the consent of the Government. The cost of one head of Altai argali is about 50 thousand dollars. It is said that world hunters did not consider themselves a hunter if they did not hunt for Altai Argali. Argali declined from 50,000 in 1975 to 13,000 in 2003.
Argali is partially distributed in the Mongol Altai, Gobi-Altai and their affiliated mountains, the Dzungarian and Altai Inner-Gobi Mountains, the Umnugovi and Dornogovi steppe mountains, some low mountains in the Central Mongolian steppe, the Khan Khentii Mountains, and the Khangai Mountains.
If you would like see the Argali in a wild, Gun Galuutai National Park, Hustai National Park, and Ikh Nart national park must be your first destination to visit.
