Ovis arabica
Creators: name: Don E. Wilson
name: Russell A. Mittermeier
Publisher: name: Lynx Edicions
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Artiodactyla
Bovidae
Ovis
Ovis arabica

description: 194.
Arabian Wild Sheep
Ovis arabica
French: Mouflon d’' Oman / German: Oman-Wildschaf / Spanish: Muflén de Oman
Taxonomy. Ouvis ammon arabica Sopin & Harrison, 1986,
Oman.
This species was originally described as a subspecies of O. ammon, based on an adult male (one of five seen) collected in the Wadi Kharbora, 35 km west of Kharbora, Oman. A second specimen was collected in the Hatta area, Oman. A live specimen was brought in as a lamb from the Sharawrah area on the south-eastern edge of the Rub’ al Khali in Saudi Arabia. The type specimen has close affinities with the Afghan Urial (O. cycloceros) based on horn shape and measurements and pelage characteristics; it has a predominantly white ruff and the horns are sickle-shaped. A live specimen, based on a photograph when adult, exhibited pelage and horn similarities to a Laristan Sheep (O. laristanica); it had a predominantly black ruff. However, the possibility remains that free-roaming wild sheep observed on the Arabian Peninsula were derived from specimens originating from southern Iran and Pakistan and sold in the pet trade to private owners. Indeed, two females caughtlive in the Hatta area were subsequently placed in a private collection where they were mixed with wild sheep from Laristan, Iran. Monotypic.
Distribution. Oman.
Descriptive notes. The only measurement data available are head-body 100 cm and tail 11 cm. This is a relatively small wild sheep, but the horns of the male are robust and widely divergent. Females are hornless or have very short horns. The general color is chestnut fulvous, and the short tail is tipped with black.
Habitat. Desert habitat in mountainous terrain, but there is no specific information available.
Food and Feeding. There is no specific information available for this species, but likely mainly feeds on grasses, supplemented by browse.
Breeding. There is no specific information available for this species, but probably has one or two young per year, after a gestation period of 5-6 months.
Activity patterns. There is no specific information available for this species, but probably crepuscular, active in early morning and twilight, resting during the heat of the day.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. There is no specific information available for this species, butlikely gregarious like other sheep.
Status and Conservation. This species has not been assessed due to its new taxonomic status and lack of data on numbers, distribution, habitat use, and threats. Hunting is a definite concern; the type specimen was shot by a hunter. Its rarity, limited distribution, and illegal hunting warrant that it be classified in one of the threatened categories on The IUCN Red Lust.
Bibliography. Gasperetti (1978), Groves & Grubb (2011), Harrison (1968a, 1968b), Harrison & Bates (1991), Sopin & Harrison (1986), Valdez (1982).
description: Published as part of Don E. Wilson & Russell A. Mittermeier, 2011, Bovidae, pp. 444-779 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 2 Hoofed Mammals, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions on page 686, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6512484