The Elusive Arabian Tahr - A Tryst With The Montane Enigmas

Dr Ranjitsinh goes in pursuit of exciting montane creatures, through and over the mountains of Oman, a land determined to protect its environment and wildlife. A demanding and thrilling chase takes him across reserves and ranges, through gorges and cliffs in search of the elusive Arabian Tahr.

- Dr M.k. Ranjitsinh

Arabia evokes in the minds of man vistas of endless aridity -- the Rub al Khali, the empty expanse. But there are also monsoon forests which harbour the Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) and the caracal (Caracal caracal); and mountains reaching over 3000 meters, the abode of the Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana) and the Arabian tahr (Hemitragus jayakari).

The genus Hemitragus is an enigma. The three genera which belong to it — the Himalayan tahr (H. jemlahicus), the Nilgiri tahr (H. hylocrius) of the Western Ghats of southern India and the Arabian tahr – were grouped together as Hemitragus on the basis of certain affinities in physique, and allied with the genus Capra or true goats. Interestingly, the Arabian tahr was discovered by an Indian doctor, Jayakar, as late as the First World War.

There are, of course, certain similarities amongst the three tahr species and the wild goats. Short backward curving horns, long facial profiles, and shaggy coats with tresses of hair flowing out from the flanks and legs in the males of the Himalayan and Arabian tahr, etc., as also the preference for crags and precipices.

However, a recent molecular phylogenetic study by Ropiquet A. and Hassanin, A. in 2005, “Molecular Evidence For The Polyphyly of the Genus Hemitragus (Mammalia, Bovidae)” in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (36.154-168), has revealed surprising results. The Himalayan tahr was found to have taxonomical affinity with Capra (goats); the Nilgiri tahr with Ovis (Sheep); and the Arabian tahr with the aoudad or Barbary sheep (