GORAL

Naemorhedus spp

Physical Description

The Goral is the smallest member of the Rupicaprini tribe of goat antelopes, which also includes the Serow, the North American mountain goat, and the European chamois. There are three Goral species: Naemorhedus baileyi, the Red Goral; Naemorhedus goral, the Himalayan Goral; and Naemorhedus caudatus, the Long-tailed or Chinese Goral. At least two of the three Goral species occur in Tibet.

The Goral has a short, woolly undercoat covered with long, coarse outer fur. The Goral’s colouration varies across the animal’s habitat range and between the three species.

The color of the Goral’s coat ranges from grizzled grey to dark, reddish brown, with a light throat patch, legs that lighten toward the hooves, and a dark stripe down the spine. Male gorals have a short mane and tend to be darker than female gorals. The Longtailed Goral has a dark, bushy tail. The Goral’s coat thickens and grows shaggy in the winter.

Unlike the Serow, which has a flat face, the Goral has a curved face, with a separate nasal bone and eyes set close together. The Goral’s large ears measure from ten to 14 centimetres (3.9 to 5.5 inches) in length. Both male and female gorals have short, sharply pointed horns that curve backwards.

The horns have small, irregular ridges and grow to a length of 13 to 18 centimetres (five to seven inches). The horns of Goral males are longer, more divergent, and are thicker at the base than the horns of females. Additionally, the ridges on the males’ horns of males are more prominent than the ridges on the females’ horns.

The Goral has long, strong limbs and broad, heavy hooves that are well adapted for climbing and jumping. The Goral’s back is slightly arched.

The Goral is about half the size of the Serow. Adult Goral males weigh between 28 and 42 kilograms (62 to 93 pounds), while females weigh between 22 and 35 kilograms (49 to 77 pounds). The height of an adult goral, taken at the shoulder, ranges from about 50 to 80 centimetres (20 to 32 inches). The Goral’s body length measures approximately 80 to 130 centimetres (32 to 51 inches), and the Goral’s tail measures about seven to 20 centimetres (2.8 to 8 inches) long.

 

Habitat

The Goral inhabits open, sparsely vegetated, and forested mountains at elevations from about 1,000 to 4,000 metres (3,300 to 13,500 feet).

In areas where the Goral and the Serow share habitat, the Goral is found on rockier, more barren slopes than the Serow. The Red Goral principally occurs in southeast Tibet. The Dongqiu Nature Reserve was established in Nyingtri specifically for the animal’s preservation. The Red Goral is also found in northern Burma (Myanmar), Assam State in India, and Yunnan province in China. There is a subspecies of the Red Goral called the Tibetan Red Goral (Naemorhedus baileyi baileyi). The Himalayan Goral occurs in the Himalaya Mountains, in northern Pakistan, northern India, southern Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan. The Long-tailed Goral is found in Far Eastern Russia, China, Korea, eastern Burma (Myanmar), Laos, northwestern Thailand, and possibly in northeastern India (Nagaland and Assam).

 

Eating Habits

The Goral is a ruminant. It can take up to four days for the Goral to completely digest its food. In the spring and summer, the Goral grazes mostly on grasses, occasionally supplementing its diet with the shoots of certain shrubs and trees. In the fall and winter, the Goral generally switches to eating bamboo, the leaves and twigs of trees and shrubs, and/or nuts, including acorns. The Goral has also been spotted grouping around trees in which monkeys are feeding and eating fallen leaves, flower, and fruits. The Goral visits salt licks to obtain necessary minerals.

 

Behaviour and Reproduction

The Goral descends to lower elevations in the winter. The Goral tends to be most active early in the morning and in the late evening. The Goral usually spends the middle of the day resting, under the cover of vegetation or on a rocky ledge, but when it is overcast, the Goral may be active throughout the day. Gorals make trails through their habitat and use these frequently.

Female gorals and their offspring, including male gorals that have not yet reached adulthood, form small herds of two to 12 individuals. Adult males are solitary for most of the year, associating with females only during the breeding season. A herd’s territory generally encompasses approximately 0.4 square kilometres (100 acres). During the mating season, adult males occupy and mark territories of about 0.2 square kilometres (22 to 25 hectares). Unlike other herding animals, gorals rely more heavily on their acute eyesight than on their sense of smell or hearing.

The Goral reaches sexual maturity between two and three years of age. The timing of the mating season varies across the Goral’s habitat range, but generally occurs between September and December. The Goral’s gestation period lasts 170 to 218 days, after which females give birth to one, or, occasionally, to two kids. Kids are able to stand after just one hour and begin following their mothers on their second day. Kids are weaned at seven to eight months of age.

The life span of the Goral, in the wild, is approximately eight to 15 years. One captive goral lived as long as 17 years and seven months. The Goral’s natural predators include leopards, lynx, tigers, wolves, wild dogs, and martens. The Goral is a shy animal. The Goral’s coat provides excellent camouflage for the Goral in its natural habitat, so the Goral’s first reaction when confronted by potential danger is to freeze, in hopes of being overlooked. If the Goral does happen to be spotted, it emits a hissing or sneeze-like alarm call and flees. The Goral is capable of moving

very quickly and agilely across rocky terrain. The Goral generally avoids areas of loose snow, in which it could rapidly become bogged down and exhausted, and remains close to rocks and cliffs, up which it can quickly escape from its predators. As a last resort, the Goral may use its horns to defend itself and its young.

 

Present Status

The Red Goral and the Long-tailed Goral are categorized as Vulnerable and the Himalayan Goral is classified as Lower Risk: Near Threatened in the 2003 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. All three species of Goral are included in Appendix I of CITES. Gorals are under second class protection in China and are included in Schedule III of the Indian Wild Life (Protection) Act of 1972.

 

Threats to Survival

The most severe threat to the Goral’s survival is the loss, degradation, and fragmentation of the Goral’s fragile mountain habitat. Deforestationdue to logging and the  collection of wood for fuel and agricultural practices including slash and burn have had the harshest effects on the Goral’s habitat. The Goral is additionally threatened by hunting. The Goral is hunted for sport, for food, and to obtain its body parts, including its fur, which is used in making clothing, and other body parts that are used in traditional medicine. In some areas, gorals are hunted with the help of dogs, which frightens and over-excites the Goral such that its heart and lungs become susceptible to injury. The Goral is also threatened, albeit to a lesser extent, by natural disasters including avalanches or landslides and temperature extremes.

 

References

America Zoo, Common goral, http://www.americazoo.com/goto/index/mammals/414.htm, Oct 2004.

Caprinae Specialist Group, 1996: Naemorhedus spp. In: IUCN, 2003: 2003 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, http://www.redlist.org,

Oct 2004.

Conservation International, Biodiversity Hotspots – Resources, http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/Hotspots/resources/glossary.xml, Oct 2004.

Saint Louis Zoo, Central Chinese Goral::Saint Louis Zoo, http://www.stlzoo.org/animals/abouttheanimals/mammals/hoofedmammals/

centralchinesegoral.htm, Oct 2004.

Thai Society for the Conservation of Wild Animals, Thai Wildlife : Rare or Extinct : Goral (Chinese Goral), http://www.tscwa.org/wildlife/

rare_or_extinct_09.html, Oct 2004.

Huffman, Brent, Gray Goral, http://www.ultimateungulate.com/Artiodactyla/Nemorhaedus_goral.html, Oct 2004.

Sathyakumar, S. and Bhatnagar, Y.V., “Mountain Ungulates,” Wildlife and Protected Areas, Vol. 1, No. 1, Dec 2002: As a Boy…, http://

www.wii.gov.in/envis/ungulates/chapter12.htm, Oct 2004.

Woodland Park Zoo, Animal Fact Sheets, http://www.zoo.org/educate/fact_sheets/goral/goral.htm, Oct 2004.

By: Environment and Development Desk, DIIR, CTA.