Check out this thing I just found on Twitter:
Definitely looks like some sort of mythical or ai generated creature, doesn't it?
And yet it's just a goat, known as the Markhor 馃悙 馃槀
Turns out the Markhor is the national animal of Pakistan, so I guess this creature that looks really weird to me is a familiar site for peeps from that country and the rest of the places it inhabits:
The species is native to South Asia and Central Asia, mainly within Pakistan, the Karakoram range, parts of Afghanistan, and the Himalayas. source
Like other goat species, it is adapted to a mountainous lifestyle, usually found in heights between 600 and 3,600 m.
When it comes to size the Markhor is one of the biggest goats out there, standing 65 to 115 cm at the shoulder, with a length of 132 to 186 cm and a weight of up to 110 kg:
They have the highest maximum shoulder height among the species in the genus Capra, but is surpassed in length and weight by the Siberian ibex.
Of course the species is best known for its epic, screw shaped horn, hence its two other common names; screw-horn" or screw-horned goat.
In males these horns can be up to 160 cm...
Female horns are less impressive, with a length of up to 25 cm:
Female individual source
In case you wonder where the Markhor name comes from, in Urdu it means snake-eater, which is probably due to an old belief that these how's hunted and feeder on snakes...Probably a myth that originates from the shape of the horns that look a bit like like snakes.
Unfortunately, these beautiful animals.are currently listed as near threatened, with a decking trend, mostly due to hunting and poaching :(
Anyways, there's a lot more to say about these magnificent beasts, but as always the purpose of these posts is to introduce you to weird wonder of nature, and not to write a boring wiki-like article. Especially when Wikipedia has a great entry covering all the boring semantics :)
So here are a couple videos instead:
There are some more of on YouTube, beware though..there's also plenty of hunters showing their dead bodies as trophies, which may upset some of you.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed reading about yet another strange animal.
See you soon with more 馃
More Strange Animals
If you enjoyed this post here are some more amazing creatures to check out:
