Endangered
Ladakh Urial shows increase in numbers
 LEH,
15 July 2002: Things might just finally be looking
up for the Ladakh Urial. From being on the verge of
extinction a few decades ago when barely a hundred grazed
on the banks of the Indus and Shyok rivers in the cold
desert region of Ladakh, the numbers have risen. These
are the estimates of Dr Bindu Raghavan, who conducted
a survey of the Ladah Urial (Ovis vignei vignei) along
the river Indus in June-July 2002.
The survey was funded by the Wildlife Trust of India
as part of a Rapid Action Project (RAP) supported by
the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation. Raghavan, a
veterinarian, is an M Sc student of the Wildlife Institute
of India (WII), was looking for an optimum site for
further study, supervised by Dr Yashveer Bhatnagar,
an expert in high altitude fauna. The Ladakh Urial has
never been studied before and the WTI-DSCF funding will
make possible the first study of this critically endangered
animal. What is available for research now are only
a handful of anecdotal notes.
Ladakh is unique not only in its geomorphology but
also in the diversity of the fauna and flora it holds.
The trans-himalyan region, of which Ladakh is a part,
has the distinction of supporting the maximum diversity
of wild sheep and goats, including the Urial. The Ladakh
Urial, or 'Shapo' as it is called locally, is a highly
threatened subspecies of the Urial. It is endemic to
Ladakh and is listed in the IUCN Red List 2000. Hunting
of the Shapo (female= Shamo) had been rampant and numbers
had dwindled to about a few hundred a few decades back.
Raghavan's preliminary survey seems to indicate that
the previously reported estimate of 1500 animals seems
to be correct and the population seems to be stable,
if not increasing."
In the 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the
Ladakh Urial was listed in the EN C2a category, and
its population was estimated to be around 1,500. According
to this category, the population is estimated to number
less than 2,500 mature individuals, and shows a continuing
decline, observed, projected, or inferred, in numbers
of mature individuals and population structure in the
form of a severely fragmented (i.e. no subpopulation
estimated to contain more than 250 mature individuals)
subpopulation.
Although published reports indicate Shapos' distribution
along the banks of both the Indus and Shyok rivers,
this survey was restricted to the Indian side of the
line of control of the former. The areas covered under
the survey comprised Miru, Nimmu, Basgo, Liker, Alchi,
Saspol, Hemis Shukhpachan, Khalsi (Nyarmu village),
Lamayuru to Wanla path, Kanji, Fotu la, Tsipskianchan,
and Potortse village (below Nindum peak). The survey
mainly focused on interviews with villagers to understand
their agro-pastoral lifestyle and interactions with
wild animals.
Raghavan collected information regarding livestock
holding patterns, grazing patterns, occurrence of wild
animals, occurrence and abundance of Urial, interactions
of livestock with the Urial, interactions of livestock
with other wild animals, problems faced by the villagers,
among other things. Wherever possible, fixed (vantage)
point counts were performed in the early morning and
evening hours to get an idea of the encounter rates
(probability of sighting) of Shapo in the area.
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