Ladakh
is also home to some beautiful and rear birds like the critically endangered
black necked crane. Bar headed geese, woodpeckers, ducks, partridges, barbets,
kingfishers, parakeets, swifts eagle, owls to name a few are some birds commonly
seen in Ladakh. This rich rather exclusive wildlife however, is severely threatened
by habitat loss and poaching
Yak
The largest animal of the cold desert is the yak(dong), a wild ox. First described
only a century ago by the famous Russian naturalist-- explorer, N.M.Przewalski,
the wild yak is definitely more imposing than its placid domestic counterpart.
Immensely shaggy and weighing about a tone it has curved horns whose tips
can be as wide apart as 90 cm. and measure 76 cm. over the curves. It can
easily be distinguished by its long black hair, which is tinged with gray
at the muzzle. Spending its summers at a height above 6,000 meters, in winter
it moves in herds to the lakes, marshes and lower valleys.
Nyan
All the world's sheep are closely related and zoologists generally believe
that each kind is only a variation of the same species. The largest and most
magnificent of wild sheep is the nyan also called the Great Tibetan sheep
(Ovis ammon). Roughly 200 of these antelope - like animals are found in the
extreme eastern portion of Ladakh. The horns of the nyan measure up to 145
cm. and the animal normally remains at a great height, rarely descending to
a level below 4,500 meters.
Avifauna
The
Himalayan and Tibetan snowcocks-large majestic birds much hunted for their
meat, and partridges breed at a height about 5,000 meters. The rest are visitors,
moving down to the foothills in autumn in an annual ritual of altitudinal
migration. Other birds move still further, horizontally following ancient
routes of global migration.
The highest realm belongs to the birds of prey and carrion eaters. These include
choughs, griffon vultures, ravens and lammergeiers(bearded vultures), which
follow man and animal wherever they roam. Choughs and ravens have been seen
as high as 6,150 meters along with the lammergeiers, which have a spectacular
three meters wingspan, which enables them to glide on high powerful upcurrents.
Lammergeiers are never found far from mountains and locals awed by their size
falsely believe them to be capable of carrying away young lambs.
Urial
The urial or shapu, (Ovis orientalis), which weighs 85 Kg. and has horns measuring
upto 99 cm., is the smallest of the world sheep in eastern Asia, its body
just about as tall as its horns. These sheep prefer the grassy mountain slopes,
usually at a height of 3,000-4,000 meters. The meeting of this species, as
is the case with most sheep during December-January and they give birth to
their young around May. The need for protection of the urial is great as they
are with in easy reach of hunters. Their numbers have been declining rapidly
and it is estimated that there are no more than 500 in Ladakh.
