Serow
Serow[1] | |
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Mainland serow (Capricornis sumatraensis) at Dusit Zoo, Bangkok, Thailand. | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Family: | Bovidae |
Subfamily: | Caprinae |
Tribe: | Ovibovini |
Genus: | Capricornis Ogilby, 1837 |
Type species | |
Antilope thar[1] Hodgson, 1831
| |
Species | |
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The serow (
Extant species
This genus has been analyzed, studied and reclassified a number of times. In 2005, Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.) listed six different species (C. crispus, C. milneedwardsii, C. rubidus, C. sumatraensis, C. swinhoei, and C. thar), with two subspecies of C. milneedwardsii.[1] The current consensus recognises the following four species, with milneedwardsii and thar demoted to subspecies of C. sumatraensis:[2]
Image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
---|---|---|---|
Capricornis crispus | Japanese serow | Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku in Japan | |
Capricornis sumatraensis | Mainland serow | Eastern Himalayas, eastern and southeastern Bangladesh, China, Southeast Asia, and on the Indonesian island of Sumatra | |
Capricornis rubidus | Red serow | East India, southern Bangladesh and northern Myanmar | |
Capricornis swinhoei | Taiwan or Formosan serow | Taiwan |
Serows live in south-central, southeast and
Like their smaller relatives, the gorals, serows are often found grazing on rocky and forested hillsides, though typically at a lower elevation in places where the two species' territories overlap; gorals tend to be wary and typically retreat to higher elevations and steeper mountainsides. Serows are slightly larger and slower-moving, and somewhat less agile, than gorals; however, they can still nimbly climb up or down the slopes to escape predation or to find appropriate shelter during cold winters or hot summers. Serows, unlike gorals, make use of their preorbital glands in territorial scent marking.
Fossils of serow-like animals date as far back as the late Pliocene, two to seven million years ago. The common ancestor species of the Caprinae subfamily may have been very similar to modern serows.
The serow subfamily population as a whole is considered endangered. Most serow species are included in the red list of IUCN with decreasing populations. The Japanese serow is better protected than the other sub-species of serows.[3][4][5][6]
References
- ^ OCLC 62265494.
- . Retrieved 16 January 2022.
- . Retrieved 31 August 2022.
- . Retrieved 11 November 2021.
- . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- . Retrieved 16 January 2022.
External links
- Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). 1911. .