Name : Nimra Kanwal

Section : Z1802

Roll No : 11

Subject : Wildlife

Submitted To : Prof. Asif

Assignment No.3

Existence Of Wildlife In Northern Areas Of Pakistan

Some of the wildlife species found in northern mountainous areas and Pothohar
Plateau include the Bharal, Eurasian lynx, Himalayan goral, Marco Polo sheep, marmot
(in Deosai National Park) and yellow-throated marten and birds species of chukar
partridge, Eurasian eagle-owl, Himalayan monal and Himalayan snowcock.

1.BHARAL:-

Classification:-

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class : Mammalia

Order : Artiodactyla

Family : Bovidae

Genus : Pseudois

Species : P. nayaur

Current Status:-
The bharal is categorised as least concern by the International Union for Conservation
of Nature and Natural Resources. The population faces threats - poaching for meat and
competition with livestock. Poaching, however, is uncommon due to the unsuitable
conditions of its habitat. Similarly, livestock do not generally frequent the mountainous
regions where bharal occur; even if they do coexist, no notable detrimental effect on the
bharal has been observed.

Habitat:-
Bharal are found in the high Himalayas of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, Myanmar, and Pakistan.
They live in open grassy slopes in high mountains and are usually found near cliffs but try to
avoid forested areas.
Picture:-

2. EURASIAN LYNX:-

Classification:-

Kingdom : Animalia

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Mammalia

Order : Carnivora

Family: Felidae

Genus: Lynx

Species : L. lynx
Current status:-
The Eurasian lynx is included on CITES Appendix II and listed as a protected species
in the Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats,
Appendix III. Hunting lynx is illegal in many range countries, with the exception of
Estonia, Latvia, Russia, Armenia and Iraq. Since 2005, the Norwegian government sets
national population goals, while a committee of representatives from county assemblies
decide on hunting quotas.

Habitat:-
The Eurasian Lynx is found in deciduous and mixed forests in Europe and Russia; open
wooded regions and semi deserts in Central Asia; thick scrub and barren rocky areas on
the northern slopes of the Himalayas and even up the Arctic tundra in northern
latitudes.

Picture:-
3. MARCO POLO SHEEP:-

Classification:-

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class : Mammalia

Order: Artiodactyla

Family: Bovidae

Genus: Ovis

Species: O. ammon

Current Status:-
Hunting the Marco Polo sheep first became popular when Mohammed Zahir Shah, king of
Afghanistan, hunted and killed a ram in the 1950s.He thereafter declared that the valley in which he
hunted be a protected habitat for the sheep as a hunting grounds for Afghan royalty, and it was not
until 1968 that an American tourist was allowed to hunt in the reserve .In 2008, it was estimated that
American hunters paid an average of $20,000 to $25,000 for an expedition to hunt a Marco Polo
sheep. A recent study put the cost at $40,000 per permit .In 1976, in Khunzerav, the sheep's
population was estimated to be 300.This number declined to a maximum of 160 between 1978 and
1981, and declined again to only 45 in 1991.George Schaller of the Wildlife Conservation
Society estimated the worldwide population in 2003 as around 10,000, half what Ronald Petocz
estimated in his 1973 tour. Their population density has been recorded as fewer than two animals
per 1 square kilo meter (0.39 sq mi). The Marco Polo sheep was included on the first list of
protected species issued by the Afghanistan National Environmental Protection Agency in June
2009. The revenue from hunting provides much of the resources needed for conservation efforts
including habitat acquisition and restoration. In 2008, George Schaller launched a campaign to
protect the Marco Polo sheep After the Khunjerab National Park was established by Pakistan in
1975; and the Taxkorgan Nature Reserve similarly settled in China in 1984, Schaller noted that the
parks were insufficient to protect the sheep, due to their seasonal migrations Schaller, among
others, then proposed an international reserve in 1987 to combat the problem, but the effort was
stalled due to political difficulties . It's never easy to get the governments of four countries to agree
on anything," Schaller has said of his efforts. His mission was to found a park straddling the borders
of China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan in which the sheep would be protected Schaller called
the proposed reserve the "Pamir International Peace Park.
Habitat:-

Most Marco Polo sheep live in the Pamir Mountains region adjacent to the borders
of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and China. Their elevation ranges
from 3,700 to 4,800 m (12,100 to 15,700 ft) above sea level.

Picture:-
4. MARMOT:-

Classification:-

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Rodentia

Family: Sciuridae

Genus: Marmota

Species: Marmota flaviventris

Current Status:-
Conservation of marmots, large ground-dwelling squirrels restricted to the northern hemisphere, was
impacted by direct human activity through hunting or modifying ecosystem dynamics. Regulating
human activities reduced the threat of extinction. Climate change, an indirect human impact,
threatens marmot survival through global warming and extreme weather events. Most marmot
species occupy a harsh environment characterized by a short growing season and a long, cold
season without food. Marmots cope with seasonality by hibernating. Their large size increases the
efficiency of fat accumulation and its use as the sole energy source during hibernation. Marmot
physiology is highly adapted to coping with low environmental temperatures; they are stressed by
high heat loads. Global warming since the last ice age reduced the geographic distribution of some
of the 15 species of marmots. Recent warming resulted in a movement upslope of their lower
elevation boundary. This process likely will continue because warming is associated with drier
unpalatable vegetation. Drought reduces reproduction and increases mortality; thus decreased
summer rainfall in the montane environments where marmots live may cause local extinction. Snow
cover, a major environmental factor, is essential to insulate hibernation burrows from low, stressful
temperatures. However, prolonged vernal snow cover reduces reproduction and increases mortality.
Montane areas currently lacking marmot populations because vernal snow cover persists beyond
the time that marmots must begin foraging may become colonized if warming causes earlier snow
melt. This benefit will be short-lived because decreased precipitation likely will result in unpalatable
vegetation. Although some marmot populations are physiologically adapted to a warmer climate,
global warming will increase too rapidly for any significant evolutionary response to dryness. The
species that live in high, alpine meadows where tree and shrub invasions occur are most threatened
with extinction. Captive breeding can preserve marmot species in the shortrun, but is impractical
over the long-term. Widespread species are unlikely to be endangered in the foreseeable future, but
local, low elevation populations will be lost.

Habitat:-
Marmots are found north of Mexico and in Eurasia from the European Alps through
north-central Asia, the Himalayas, and northeastern Siberia to the Kamchatka
Peninsula. They inhabit open country in mountains and plains,
preferring montane meadows, steppes, tundra, and forest edges.

Picture:-
5. HIMALAYAN GORAL:-

Classification:-

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Artiodactyla

Family: Bovidae

Genus: Naemorhedus

Species: N. goral

Current Status:-
Naemorhedus goral is listed in CITES Appendix I. It is listed as an endangered
species in all of its range countries.

Habitat:-
Himalayan gorals are found in the forests of the Himalayas including Bhutan, northern India
including Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, Nepal, southern Tibet, and possibly western
Myanmar. They inhabit most of the southern slopes of the Himalayas from Jammu and Kashmir
to eastern Arunachal Pradesh.
Picture:-