Annales Zoologici Fennici 35: 149-162
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Ann. Zool. Fennici 35: 149–162 ISSN 0003-455X Helsinki 11 December 1998 © Finnish Zoological and Botanical Publishing Board 1998 Ammotragus lervia: a review on systematics, biology, ecology and distribution Jorge Cassinello Cassinello, J., Estación Experimental de Zonas Aridas, CSIC, C/General Segura 1, ESP-04001 Almería, Spain; and Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, C/José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, ESP-28006 Madrid, Spain 1) Received 28 April 1998, accepted 9 August 1998 A revision on the current knowledge of the genus Ammotragus is provided. There is only one species, A. lervia, which is considered an ancestor of both Ovis and Capra. Six sub- species originally distributed in the North of Africa, but also introduced elsewhere, have been described. Particularly the study of the introduced wild ranging American populations, and recent research carried out on a captive population in Spain have expanded our knowl- edge on the species’ social behaviour, reproduction, female fitness components, behav- ioural ecology, feeding habits and ecology. Native and introduced populations of arruis are facing different problems; the former ones are generally threatened by human pression, and the latter ones pose a serious risk to native ungulates and plants. 1. Short foreword zoos, or on American wild populations (e.g., Haas 1959, Simpson 1980, my own work). Herewith a Ammotragus lervia is an African ungulate retain- review on the literature available and suggestion ing some primitive and unique characteristics for future research are provided. which makes it particularly interesting for re- Common names for the species are: aoudad, search. It is also considered as a vulnerable spe- audad, udad, uaddan, ouaddan, aroui, arui, arrui, cies by IUCN (1996). The species was poorly Barbary sheep, Barbarian, mouflon africain, mou- known until its introduction to the United States flon de Barbaris, muflón, muflón del Atlas, mouflon of America in the late 1930s. This gave a begin- à manchettes, ruffed mouflon, Saharan mouflon, ning to ecological and management studies (e.g., Mähnenspringer, Mähnenschaf, muflone berbere, Ogren 1965, Simpson 1980). Paradoxically, apart Tassilin, Fechstal, Naded, Naddan, kebach, Kabsh from few works mainly dealing with its distribu- Mai, Al Nakar, larrouy and bearded argali, among tion, research on this species has rarely been car- others (see e.g., Ogren 1965, Gray & Simpson ried out in its natural, African, environment (e.g., 1980a, Shackleton 1997). Depending on the region, Le Houérou 1992, Loggers et al. 1992, but see people and culture, we find a great diversity of com- Clark 1964). Therefore, most of the knowledge mon names for Ammotragus, some of them mak- we have about Ammotragus comes out from re- ing an evident reference to its relationship with the search on populations in European and American genus Ovis (see below). Barbary sheep is the Eng- 1) Address for correspondence 150 Cassinello • ANN. ZOOL. FENNICI Vol. 35 lish common denomination of the species; but, in 3. Phylogeny: comparative morphology order to prevent any taxonomic misinterpretation, and biochemistry I have preferred to use the Arabic name “arrui” in this review (see Valdez & Bunch 1980, and be- Ammotragus still represents a challenge for evo- low). lutionists, since due to its particular morphology and behaviour, its phylogeny is a complicated and controversial subject. 2. Taxonomy Both goats (genus Capra) and sheep (genus Ovis) share a series of characteristics with arruis The genus Ammotragus Blyth, 1840, with only (see Table 1). Some authors even suggest that the one species, A. lervia Pallas, 1777, has a com- latter should be included in one of these genera monly accepted taxonomic status: (e.g., Corbet 1978, see below). ‘Ammotragus’ Class: Mammalia means ‘sand goat’, probably in reference to its color, Order: Artiodactyla which is pale, tawny brown or rufous, grading to a Suborder: Ruminantia whitish underside with dark brown areas around Infraorder: Pecora the head and forequarters (Valdez & Bunch 1980); Family: Bovidae variability in color tones, however, is notable among Subfamily: Caprinae Tribe: Caprini the subspecies. The general aspect resembles a ro- bust goat, with a relatively long head, short and However, the denomination of both genus and spe- stocky legs, and a long, naked tail underneath. As a cies has changed several times until reaching an unique feature, a mane extends from under the accord (Gray & Simpson 1980a, Gray 1985): throat down the front of the neck to the brisket, Genus: Ammotragus Blyth, 1840 bifurcating then and continuing down the forelegs Aegoceros Heughlin, 1861 in mature animals, where it is named chaps. Arruis Species: Antilope lervia Pallas, 1777 do not have a goatee, and like some sheep species Ovis tragelaphus Afzelius, 1815 Ovis ornata I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1827 (Geist 1971a, Delibes 1986), they have a haired Ammotragus lervia Thomas, 1902 chin and a short erect fringe on the back. True horns are elliptical and similar to those of mouflon (Ovis Moreover, other taxonomic designations, which musimon). Unlike sheep, arruis lack preorbital, appeared between 1840 and 1902, may have con- interdigital and flank glands, but they have sub- tributed to creating a certain confusion in the tax- caudal glands. Their behaviour resembles that of onomy of the species (Gray & Simpson 1980a): sheep (Geist 1971a), although an ancestral pattern Ovis (Ammotragus) tragelaphus Blyth, 1840. does predominate (Katz 1949, Haas 1959). There- Ammotragus tragelaphus Gray, 1850. fore, morphologically arruis show intermediate Musimon tragelaphus Gervais, 1855. characteristics of sheep and goats (Geist 1971a, Aries tragelaphus Lataste, 1887. Ovis (Ammotragus) lervia Lydekker, 1898. Schaffer & Reed 1972). Ovis lervia Anderson and de Winton, 1902. The chromosome number of the arrui (2n = 58) is identical to that of Ovis vignei (Nadler et al. Finally, six subspecies have been described, mainly 1974, Bunch et al. 1977). Besides, the seroprotein according to their distribution (see the section about (Schmitt 1963) and immunoglobulin (Curtain & the distribution of the species below): Fudenberg 1973) analyses show a close relation- Ammotragus lervia lervia Pallas, 1777. ship to Ovis. However, the sequence of amino- Ammotragus lervia ornata I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1827. acids of several hemoglobin chains (Manwell & Ammotragus lervia sahariensis Rothschild, 1913. Ammotragus lervia blainei Rothschild, 1913. Baker 1975) shows a closer relation to Capra hir- Ammotragus lervia angusi Rothschild, 1921. cus, and some unique characteristics. On the other Ammotragus lervia fassini Lepri, 1930. hand, immuno-diffusion studies by Hight and Nad- ANN. ZOOL. FENNICI Vol. 35 • Ammotragus lervia: a review 151 ler (1976) paradoxically establish a closer rela- and geographic distribution of the species, the cline tionship between Ovis and Capra than between is named argali or ammon cline in reference to the any of them and Ammotragus. Altai or Siberian argali, Ovis ammon ammon, which Some authors (Ansell 1971, Corbet 1978) place is placed in one end of the cline, while the arrui is the arrui in the genus Capra, due to morphological in the other end. To determine in which direction similarities and because it may interbreed with goats sheep evolved, Geist (1971a) firstly compared all and produce live hybrids (Petzsch 1957 in Geist the species to ancestral forms to establish which is 1971a). But Geist (1971a) discounted the ability of the evolutionary older form, and secondly he re- Capra to hybridize with Ammotragus as an indica- lated the cline to the history of Pleistocene glaci- tor of a closer relationship, and hypothesized that ations. reproductive barriers between Ovis and Ammo- Paleontologists suggest that the caprids evolved tragus arose due to their sympatric distribution in from the Tribe Rupicaprinae (Thenius & Hofer North Africa during the Pleistocene, whereas arruis 1960), which has four or six genera, according to and goats were not sympatric. various authors (Schaller 1977, Eisenberg 1981, Geist (1971a, 1985) hypothesized that the arrui Lovari & Perco 1982, MacDonald 1985). Two char- is ancestral to the Paleartic sheep lineage. He re- acteristic genera, the North American mountain lated all the Eurasian mountain sheep by means of goat, Oreamnos; and the serow, Capricornis; both a cline based on the morphological characteristics share a great number of characteristics with the most Table 1. Anatomical, chromosomal and blood protein differences between sheep, arruis and goats (from Valdez & Bunch 1980). ————————————————————————————————————————————————— Phenotypic character Ovis Ammotragus Capra ————————————————————————————————————————————————— Preorbital gland Present Absent Absent Foot (interdigital) glands Present Absent Absent Inguinal glands Present Absent Absent Subcaudal glands Absent Present Present Chin beard Absent Absent Present in males; Horns In males usually in Supracervical usually scimitar-like spiral but sometimes or twisted and pointing bent backwards over the up or bent backwards neck (supracervical) over the neck, with the tips pointing inwards and up Tail length Short (≤ 6.0 inches) Long (≥ 6.0 inches) Long (≥ 6.0 inches) No. chromosomes (2n) 52 to 58 58 60 Transferrins (Tf) I, A, G, B, C, D, Identical to D of A and B differ in M, E and F sheep mobility from A and B of sheep Hemoglobins (Hb) Normal adult Amino acid Normal adult hemoglobin A, B and sequencing has hemoglobin