Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Scat­tered pop­u­la­tions of Capra fal­coneri, first de­scribed by Wag­ner in 1839, and com­monly re­ferred to as mark­hors, may be found through­out the arid and steppe re­gions of the west­ern Hi­malayas. Coun­tries of dis­con­tin­u­ous dis­tri­b­u­tion are lim­ited to Afghanistan, India, Pak­istan, Tajik­istan, Turk­menistan, and Uzbek­istan. (Huff­man, 2004; Nowak, 1999)

• Biogeographic Regions
• palearctic
  • native

Habi­tat

Capra fal­coneri is adapted to moun­tain­ous ter­rain be­tween 600 m and 3600 m el­e­va­tion. More­over, the pres­ence of C. fal­coneri is strongly as­so­ci­ated with scrub forests made up pri­mar­ily of oaks (Quer­cus ilex), pines (Pinus ger­ar­diana), and ju­nipers (Ju­nipe­rus macrop­oda). (Nowak, 1999)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest
• scrub forest
• mountains

• Range elevation

  600 to 3600 m

  1968.50 to 11811.02 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Capra fal­coneri is highly sex­u­ally di­mor­phic in size. Males weigh be­tween 80 and 110 kg, whereas fe­males weigh only 32 to 50 kg. Body length varies be­tween 140 and 180 cm, and the tail may add an ad­di­tional 8 to 14 cm to the total length.

The rel­a­tively short coat of C. fal­coneri can range in color from light tan to dark brown, and even black. Capra fal­coneri dif­fers from Capra ibex in that it lacks the ex­tremely dense win­ter un­der­wool pos­sessed by the lat­ter. Fringed beards are pre­sent in both sexes, but are thicker, longer, and more dis­tinct in male mark­hors.

Light and dark color pat­terns, typ­i­cal of all C. fal­coneri sub­species, are pre­sent on the lower legs. Capra fal­coneri lacks the knee tufts, in­guinal and sub­or­bital glands pre­sent in many species of goats in­hab­it­ing moun­tain­ous re­gions. (Huff­man, 2004; Nowak, 1999; Roberts, 1997)

Males and fe­males both posses ex­tremely bold, flared, corkscrew-like horns. These horns twist out­ward and may reach lengths up to 160 cm in males and 24 cm in fe­males. The angle and di­rec­tion of horn cur­va­ture varies among the seven sub­species of C. fal­coneri. Horn color varies from dark to red­dish-brown. (Roberts, 1997)

Al­though some might mis­take C. fal­coneri for other mem­bers of the genus from a dis­tance, the horns of mark­hors make them quite unique in ap­pear­ance. North­ern pop­u­la­tions of C. fal­coneri can be eas­ily dis­tin­guished from Capra ae­ga­grus by the dor­sal crest and lower hang­ing beard in C. fal­coneri, as well as the dif­fer­ences in horn mor­phol­ogy and col­oration. (Huff­man, 2004; Nowak, 1999; Roberts, 1997)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger
• ornamentation

• Range mass

  32 to 110 kg

  70.48 to 242.29 lb

• Range length

  140 to 180 cm

  55.12 to 70.87 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

Like most un­gu­lates, C. fal­coneri does not mate monog­a­mously. Mark­hors breed an­nu­ally, with males com­pet­ing ag­gres­sively dur­ing the rut for the right to sire the off­spring of fe­male herds. (Nowak, 1999)

• Mating System
• polygynous

Capra fal­coneri breeds an­nu­ally, with the rut oc­cur­ring in the au­tumn and win­ter months. It is dur­ing this time that soli­tary males may tem­porar­ily join fe­male herds.

Preg­nancy lasts 135 to 170 days. Each preg­nancy can pro­duce 1 or 2 off­spring. Wean­ing oc­curs at the age of 5 or 6 months. Young typ­i­cally re­main with their mother until breed­ing sea­son. Re­pro­duc­tive ma­tu­rity oc­curs at the age of 18 to 36 months, and is later in males than in fe­males. (Nowak, 1999)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
• viviparous

• Breeding interval

  Markhors breed annually.

• Breeding season

  Breeding occurs during fall and winter months.

• Range number of offspring

  1 to 2

• Average number of offspring

  2

  AnAge

• Range gestation period

  4.5 to 5.67 months

• Range weaning age

  5 to 6 months

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  18 to 30 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  36 months

Mark­hors are usu­ally born in the spring and sum­mer months of May and June. The young are ini­tially born in a shal­low earthen hol­low. They are able to walk soon after birth, and can travel with the mother. Moth­ers pro­vide nour­ish­ment (milk) and pro­tec­tion to their grow­ing young. They stay with the mother for ap­prox­i­mately 6 months, al­though there are sev­eral re­ports of kids re­main­ing with the mother there­after. Males are not re­ported to par­tic­i­pate in parental care. (Bur­rand, 1925)

• Parental Investment
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-independence
  • protecting
    • female
• post-independence association with parents
• inherits maternal/paternal territory

Lifes­pan/Longevity

The lifes­pan of C. fal­coneri ranges from 11 to 13 years. The species is both hardy and re­silient, and as a re­sult, small herds may be suc­cess­fully reared and main­tained in cap­tiv­ity. (Nowak, 1999)

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  11 to 13 years

• Typical lifespan
  Status: captivity

  10 to 13 years

Be­hav­ior

Capra fal­coneri is largely di­ur­nal, al­though is re­ported to be most ac­tive in the early morn­ing and late af­ter­noon hours. Mark­hors for­age up to 12 or 14 hours per day, in­clud­ing a rest­ing pe­riod to chew cud.

Fe­males are so­cial and travel in herds that con­tain, on av­er­age, 8 to 9 in­di­vid­u­als. This is sig­nif­i­cantly smaller than the av­er­age herds of Capra ibex and Capra ae­ga­grus. Herd com­po­si­tion is pri­mar­ily fe­male, with males tem­porar­ily join­ing dur­ing the rut­ting sea­son. Males are oth­er­wize soli­tary. (Roberts, 1997)

Al­though most mark­hors move to lower el­e­va­tions, and sub­se­quently milder con­di­tions, dur­ing the win­ter, sev­eral pop­u­la­tions of C. fal­coneri have been doc­u­mented at higher el­e­va­tions. (Nowak, 1999; Roberts, 1997)

• Key Behaviors
• cursorial
• diurnal
• motile
• migratory
• solitary
• territorial
• social
• dominance hierarchies

Home Range

Pop­u­la­tion den­si­ties in Pak­istan range from 1 to 9 in­di­vid­u­als/sq km. The range of such herds is often ex­tremely lim­ited as a re­sult of the moun­tain­ous ter­rain which Mark­hors in­habit. (Roberts, 1997)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Con­sid­er­ing the rel­a­tively open and ex­posed habi­tat area of C. fal­coneri, it is not sur­pris­ing that this mam­mal pos­sesses in­tensely keen eye­sight. The sense of smell is also ex­tremely de­vel­oped. Both of the afore­men­tioned senses are uti­lized in ter­ri­tory recog­ni­tion and preda­tor de­tec­tion. Capra fal­coneri con­tin­u­ally scans its en­vi­ron­ment for the pres­ence of preda­tors. Mark­hor ex­hibits highly cal­cu­lated and in­tense move­ments in re­sponse to preda­tor de­tec­tion.

Ad­di­tion­ally, dur­ing the birthing sea­son, fe­male mark­hors have been doc­u­mented giv­ing a dis­tinc­tive nasal call when ap­proach­ing their young.

Tac­tile com­mu­ni­ca­tion is used in the rut, as males com­pete with one an­other for mat­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties. (Bur­rand, 1925)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

As is true of other large, moun­tain-dwelling un­gu­lates, C. fal­coneri main­tains a strictly her­biv­o­rous diet com­posed of a va­ri­ety of grasses in the spring and sum­mer months. Dur­ing the au­tumn and win­ter months, it switches over to eat­in­gleaves, twigs, and shrubs. Mark­hor diets in­clude, but are not lim­ited to, Pen­nise­tum ori­en­tale, En­nea­pogon per­sicum, Hip­pophae rham­noides, and Quer­cus ilex. (Nowak, 1999; Schaller, 1975)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • folivore
  • lignivore

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• wood, bark, or stems

Pre­da­tion

Al­though rare, doc­u­men­ta­tion ex­ists of golden ea­gles prey­ing upon young mark­hors. Hu­mans hunt mark­hors, al­though they have been un­able to pen­e­trate sev­eral moun­tain­ous strong­holds of mark­hor pop­u­la­tions. Adult and young mark­hors are also preyed upon by Hi­malayan lynx, snow leop­ards, wolves, and pan­thers. (Bur­rand, 1925; Nowak, 1999; Roberts, 1997)

• Known Predators

  • Himalayan lynx
  • panthers
  • snow leopards
  • wolves
  • golden eagles

Ecosys­tem Roles

Mark­hors aid in the dis­per­sal of seeds of the wild grasses that com­pose their diet. Ad­di­tion­ally, C. fal­coneri serves as an im­por­tant food source for sev­eral large moun­tain mam­mals, in­clud­ing Hi­malayan lynx, snow leop­ards, wolves, and pan­thers. As a re­sult, mark­hor pop­u­la­tions are usu­ally small and com­posed of strong and healthy in­di­vid­u­als. (Roberts, 1997; Wil­son, and Reeder, 1993)

• Ecosystem Impact
• disperses seeds

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Mark­hors are heav­ily hunted by hu­mans dur­ing the win­ter months. It is dur­ing this time that the ma­jor­ity of mark­hors de­scends to lower el­e­va­tions in search of for­age. (Roberts, 1997; Schaller, 1975)

• Positive Impacts
• food
• body parts are source of valuable material
• source of medicine or drug

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Capra fal­coneri does not have any par­tic­u­lar neg­a­tive eco­nomic im­pact on hu­mans. These mam­mals are rel­a­tively docile, and will quickly sprint away upon de­tec­tion of a human. Al­though the ma­jor­ity of the ter­rain in which mark­hors live is ex­tremely arid and moun­tain­ous, they are fac­ing com­pe­ti­tion from live­stock, such as do­mes­tic goats and sheep. (Schaller, 1975)

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Capra fal­coneri is prized among tro­phy hunters and mem­bers of the Asian med­i­cine mar­ket. They face habi­tat com­pe­ti­tion from both do­mes­tic live­stock and local agri­cul­ture. As a re­sult, all pop­u­la­tions of feral C. fal­coneri have been steadily de­clin­ing over the past 40 years.

Since 1976, kabul (C. fal­coneri megaceros), straight-horned (C. fal­coneri jer­doni), and chithan mark­hor (C. fal­coneri chilta­ne­n­sis), have been de­clared en­dan­gered by the USFWS. In ad­di­tion, C. fal­coneri was clas­si­fied as en­dan­gered and con­ser­va­tion-de­pen­dant in 1996 by the IUCN. The lat­ter clas­si­fi­ca­tion in­di­cates that the long-term sur­vival of this species is heav­ily de­pen­dent on the ini­ti­a­tion and main­te­nance of con­ser­va­tion pro­grams.

• IUCN Red List

  Endangered
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Endangered
  More information

• US Federal List

  Endangered

• CITES

  Appendix I

Other Com­ments

Mark­hors are the na­tional an­i­mals of Pak­istan. In­ter­est­ingly, the com­mon name, mark­hor, is thought to have ei­ther orig­i­nated from the Per­sian words “mar” and “khor”, loosely trans­lated as “snake-eater”, or from the Pushto words “mar” and akhur”, trans­lated as “snake-horn”. Sev­eral lin­guis­tic camps favor the lat­ter the­ory, as it seems to refer to the shape of markor horns. Since the species is en­tirely veg­e­tar­ian, it would not make much sense to lable it and eater of snakes. ("World Ecore­gion Pro­file", 2001; Roberts, 1997; "World Ecore­gion Pro­file", 2001)

Seven dis­tinct sub­species of C. fal­coneri have been doc­u­mented. Each can be dis­tin­guished from the oth­ers upon ex­am­i­na­tion and no­ta­tion of re­spec­tive shape, size, and cur­va­ture of the horns. (Schaller, 1975)

Con­trib­u­tors

Nancy Shef­ferly (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Nora Cothran (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor, Phil Myers (in­struc­tor), Mu­seum of Zo­ol­ogy, Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor, Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Ref­er­ences

2000. "The Wild Na­ture of Turkestan" (On-line). Ac­cessed April 27, 2004 at http://​www.​kz/​eng/​animals/​intro.​html.

World Wildlife Fund. 2001. "World Ecore­gion Pro­file" (On-line).

West­ern Hi­malayan sub­alpine conifer forests

Bur­rand, M. 1925. Big Game Hunt­ing in the Hi­malayas and Tibet. Lon­don: Her­bert Jenk­ins.

Huff­man, B. 2004. "Capra fal­coneri (Mark­hor)" (On-line). The Ul­ti­mate Un­gu­late Page. Ac­cessed June 02, 2005 at http://​www.​ultimateungulate.​com/​Artiodactyla/​Capra_​falconeri.​html.

Nowak, R. 1999. Walker's Mam­mals of the World, Sixth Edi­tion. Bal­ti­more and Lon­don: The Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity Press.

Roberts, T. 1997. The Mam­mals of Pak­istan. Pak­istan, Ox­ford: Ox­ford Uni­ver­sity Press.

Schaller, G. 1975. Dis­tri­b­u­tion and Sta­tus of the Markor (Capra fal­coneri). Bi­o­log­i­cal Con­ser­va­tion, 7: 185-198.

Wil­son,, D., D. Reeder. 1993. Mam­mal Species of the World (Sec­ond Edi­tion). Wash­ing­ton D.C.: Smith­son­ian In­sti­tu­tion Press.