A sure-footed hoofed mammal of the steep Himalayan mountains.
Both sexes have horns that curve backward; adult males grow a conspicuous mane around the neck and shoulders in winter.
In Uttarakhand’s Govind Pashu Vihar landscape, researchers searched 43 grids, each 2.5 kilometres wide, for Himalayan tahr signs from April to June 2025. Their model estimated site use at 0.62 and detection probability at 0.48. Since each grid approximated a home range, the paper treats occupancy as an index of site use, not simple presence or absence. It is a local baseline that accounts for missed detections.
Modelled site use rose with elevation, ruggedness and north-facing slopes, and was high in alpine grassland and subalpine scrub. It declined where livestock grazing was intensive. Rainfall was linked to lower detection, not necessarily lower site use. The results can guide repeat monitoring, but cover one landscape in a single pre-monsoon season and do not show a population trend.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The 2025 survey provides a local baseline linking site use with rugged alpine/subalpine habitat and lower use in heavily grazed areas. Repeat surveys in the same grids and season could track grazing overlap while separating site use from detection probability. Evidence covers one pre-monsoon season in one landscape, not a broad trend or a current formal species-level category or assessment date.