Tibetan gazelle
The goa (Procapra picticaudata) is a relatively small but graceful antelope that lives in the Tibetan plateau. It is also known as the Tibetan gazelle.
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HerbivoreA herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example, foliage, for the main component of its die...
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FolivoreIn zoology, a folivore is a herbivore that specializes in eating leaves. Mature leaves contain a high proportion of hard-to-digest cellulose, less ...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
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ViviparousAmong animals, viviparity is the development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. The term 'viviparity' and its adjective form 'viviparous'...
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CursorialA cursorial organism is one that is adapted specifically to run. An animal can be considered cursorial if it has the ability to run fast (e.g. chee...
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TerritorialA territory is a sociographical area that which an animal consistently defends against the conspecific competition (or, occasionally, against anima...
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Altitudinal MigrantAltitudinal migration is a short-distance animal migration from lower altitudes to higher altitudes and back. Altitudinal migrants change their ele...
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starts withThe goa is grayish brown over most of its body, with its summer coat being noticeably greyer in color than its winter one. It has a short, black-tipped tail in the center of its heart-shaped white rump patches. Its fur lacks an undercoat, consisting of long guard hairs only, and is notably thicker in winter. It has excellent senses, including keen eyesight and hearing. Its thin and long legs enhance its running skills, which are required to escape from predators. Males have long, tapering, ridged horns, reaching lengths of 26 to 32 cm (10 to 13 in). The horns are positioned close together on the forehead, and rise more or less vertically until they suddenly diverge towards the tips. Females have no horns.
Goas are native to the Tibetan plateau, inhabiting high elevations. They are almost restricted to the Chinese provinces of Gansu, Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai, and Sichuan, with tiny populations in the Ladakh and Sikkim regions of India. Alpine meadows and high-elevation steppe are the primary habitats of goas.
Goas do not form large herds and usually spend time in small family groups. Although they occasionally gather into larger aggregations, most groups contain no more than 10 individuals, and many are solitary. Groups are scattered widely across their range, spread wide apart. Goas give short cries and calls to alert the herd on approach of a predator or other perceived threat.
Goas are herbivores (folivores). They feed on local vegetation, primarily forbs and legumes, supplemented by relatively small amounts of grasses and sedges.
For much of the year, female and male goas remain separate; the females graze in higher altitude terrain than the males and descend from their high pastures around September, prior to the mating season in December. During the rut, the males are largely solitary, scent marking their territories and sometimes butting or wrestling rival males with their horns. Gestation lasts around 6 months, with the single young being born between July and August. The calves remain hidden with their mothers for the first 2 weeks of life, before rejoining the herd. Young goas are thought to become reproductively mature at around 18 months of age.
The primary threats to the goa in China are loss of habitat, due to encroachment on their natural ranges by pastoralists and the expansion of agriculture in the western provinces. Presently these beautiful animals are suffering not only from poor pasture conditions but also from problems associated with small populations such as lack of genetic diversity in the population, which makes them less resistant to diseases. Goa populations in both Ladakh and Tibet are threatened with extinction, at least in some regions.
The IUCN Red List and other sources don’t provide the total population number of the goa. However, according to the IUCN Red List, it is suggested that the total population in China on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is around 100,000 individuals and around 50 individuals live in India in the Ladakh region and seasonally enter into Sikkim. Currently, this species is classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List, and its numbers today are decreasing.
Social animals are those animals that interact highly with other animals, usually of their own species (conspecifics), to the point of having a rec...