Topic of Pakistan’s national animal Markhor

          Pakistan’s national animal Markhor

Markhor

        The national animal is the animal which is chosen by a country as a unique symbol of that country, every country has its own National Animal and it is used by unifying image of the nation in front of the world. The National Animal is selected carefully considering their ecology, tradition, culture and mythology. The National Animal of Pakistan is Markhor. The word Markhor is derived from the Persian language, Mar means snake and Khor means eater, this is because of the Markhor’s ability to kill the snakes and also their horns are like coiling snakes.

    Our Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has chosen Markhor as their official symbol because it is the sign of bravery for all the ISI officers and the duty of ISI is to protect the Pakistanis from any kind of danger like terrorism. It can be due to the two reasons one is because the Markhor is the National Animal of Pakistan. The other reason is that it may be related with the incidence that once there were Markhors living on the top of mountain for killing the most poisonous species of snakes which were teasing the human beings, Markhor was there to protect the human beings and ISI also protect us from our enemies so they selected Markhor as their official symbol. In 2018, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has also decided the Markhor as the logo on the tail of every PIA.


    The habitat of Markhor is on the top of the highest mountains, all most between 600–3,600 meters in elevation. They typically inhabit scrub forests made up primarily of oaks, pines, and junipers where there is plenty for the Markhor to eat. They are found in the Northern areas of Pakistan like Gilgit Baltistan, Neelam Valley Kashmir, Chitral, Hunza Valley, Kalash Valley and also in Quetta. Markhor is a herbivorous animal that primarily grazes on a variety of vegetation including grasses, leaves, herbs, fruits and flowers. Like other wild goats, the markhor plays a valuable role within their ecosystem as they chew the leaves from the low lying trees, spreading the seeds in their dung.
Subspecies

There are five subspecies of Markhor found in Pakistan.

1) Kashmir Markhor

2) Astor Markhor,

3) Bukharan Markhor,

4) Sulaiman Markhor

5) Kabul Markhor.

    The Markhorshave massive body; usually their bodies are greyish, with white chests and underbellies, but sometimes this coat is a reddish colour. Their legs are black and white and their faces are dark. Like humans, Markhors wear different clothes for different seasons, their coat grows and sheds off depending on the time of year. In winter the coats grow longer and thicker to insulate their bodies and in summer, the coats are shedder off. The hooves of the Markhors are wide, helping them balance when climbing or simply walking in their often uneven habitat. With the help of these hooves, they did not fall from the highest mountains.

       The Markhors are sexually dimorphic, which means that the male and female species do not look exactly the same and are easily distinguishable from one another. For Markhors, the biggest difference is seen in their size, with males weighing twice as much as females. While both have a beard like hair, the male Markhor’s hair is considerably longer and thicker. The Markhor can be either social or solitary; their behavior depends on their sex. Females usually travel in small herd containing eight to ten members and are very social with each other. On the hand, males spent their most of the time alone.