Ladakh is a mysterious land shrouded in myth and legend. Much of its ancient
history is known only through the mythology of its people, as its written history
is of very recent origin. Known for centuries as the 'land of passes' (La-pass;
Dacha-land), Ladakh was discovered by Fa-hian, who traveled across its inhospitable
terrain in 399 A.D. , as 'The land where snow never melts and only corn ripens'.
Its
landscapes are forbidding by any measure. Snow-swathed mountains rise to several
thousand feet above one of the most elevated plateaus on earth. A treeless wind-swept
country, much of Ladakh can be termed as mountainous, Arctic desert, where everything
is parched by the rarefied dryness of the atmosphere. Scattered here and there,
a few narrow fertile valleys provide a clear sparkling air. The limpidity of
the atmosphere, in fact, gives the night sky a unique clarity, so full and bright
with stars that one feels transported to some ethereal setting, far removed
from Earth.
For endless years, before man had even discovered this remote land, several
hardy animals and birds lived together here in an exquisite equilibrium. Circumstances
have now changed, as they have almost everywhere else on the subcontinent. Today,
Ladakh's flora and fauna are threatened and protection is vital if the ancient
ecosystems are to survive the trauma of modern man.
This mysterious "land of passes" (La-pass, Dakh-land) stands at a
height 4,600 meters in the outer Himalayas with its peaks, ranging from 5,800
to 7,600 meters forming the most striking feature of the area.
The Himalayas, higher than the mightiest mountains anywhere in the world, are
clearly the result of a process of folding-a moment of the coastal plates by
which one drifting piece of land overrides another. When two such drifting continental
pieces collide and wrap, the resultant wrinkles form mountains. This Himalayan
massif is believed to be the result of such a collision between the Indian and
Asian plates (geologically a comparatively recent phenomenon). Consequently,
much of the high altitude Himalayan fauna is typical of both the oriental and
Palearctic regions.
Ladakh's most striking feature is nakedness of the country. Lying as it does
to the North of the main Himalayan range, most of Ladakh falls in the Palearctic
rather than the oriental region. Ladakh possesses virtually no natural forests,
though along riverbanks and valleys some greenery does exist. The lower mountain
slopes are sparse but higher up, near the snow line, wild rose, willow and herbaceous
plants have successfully colonized the slopes. This is the alpine zone. While
soil, wind, precipitation and exposure are important determinants in the arrangement
of specific life, the temperature differential due to altitude is by far the
most important factor. Because of the decrease in the temperature, vegetation
becomes more sparse and stunted as one ascends the slopes.
In this extremely harsh environment the untrained eye would hardly see any evidence
of wildlife at all. Animals, which have adapted to the rigorous conditions however,
thrive on the minimal vegetation, poor shelter, rocky terrain and bitter cold.
Nevertheless, most creatures, notably the ungulates, do migrate to lower regions
in winter while others, like the brown bear and marmots, choose to hibernate.
Ironically, at this altitude many animals suffer from "mountain sickness"
because of the lack of oxygen! Their bodies however, seem to adopt to this condition,
as the number of red blood corpuscles increases along with blood acidity. Most
large mammals have a unique devise for protection against the cold-- a highly
insulated shaggy coat. They, therefore, have less need for shelter from the
elements. This perhaps why more species of goat and sheep live here in open
country than anywhere else on earth.
Yak
The largest animal of the cold desert is the yak (dong), a wild ox. First described
only a century ago by the famous Russian naturalist-- explorer, N. M. Przewalski,
the wild yak is definitely more imposing than its placid domestic counterpart.
Immensely shaggy and weighing about a tone it has curved horns whose tips can
be as wide apart as 90 cm. and measure 76 cm. over the curves. It can easily
be distinguished by its long black hair, which is tinged with gray at the muzzle.
Spending its summers at a height above 6,000 meters, in winter it moves in herds
to the lakes, marshes and lower valleys.
Nyan
All the world's sheep are closely related and zoologists generally believe that
each kind is only a variation of the same species. The largest and most magnificent
of wild sheep is the nyan also called the Great Tibetan sheep (Ovis ammon).
Roughly 200 of these antelope - like animals are found in the extreme eastern
portion of Ladakh. The horns of the nyan measure up to 145 cm. and the animal
normally remains at a great height, rarely descending to a level below 4,500
meters.
Urial
The urial or shapu, (Ovis orientalis), which weighs 85 Kg. and has horns measuring
upto 99 cm., is the smallest of the world sheep in eastern Asia, its body just
about as tall as its horns. These sheep prefer the grassy mountain slopes, usually
at a height of 3,000 - 4,000 meters. The meeting of this species, as is the
case with most sheep during December-January and they give birth to their young
around May. The need for protection of the urial is great as they are with in
easy reach of hunters. Their numbers have been declining rapidly and it is estimated
that there are no more than 500 in Ladakh, while a survey by the Wildlife Department
of Jammu & Kashmir puts another population in the Markha and Rumbak valleys
at only around 34-50. The most common and wide spread of the sheep in the Ladakh
region is the bharal or the blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur). Found at an altitude
of almost 6,000 meters, in summer they graze in huge herds on the rich and abundant
grasses of the alpine meadows. Their brownish-gray coloring provides them with
protective camouflage and as they often stand motionless they can be extremely
difficult to spot but, when alarmed, bharal will bolt swiftly to safety. Strangely,
bharal seem to bear some morphological traits of both sheep and goats.
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