Justification for inclusion of Bezoar goat and Armenian mouflon, taken on the territory of Armenia to the Caucasian Grand Slam award.

The Caucasus occupies the isthmus between the Black and Caspian Seas. The northern border of the Caucasus goes along the Kumo-Manych depression, which in the Quaternary was a strait connecting the Caspian Sea with the Sea of Azov. The southern border of the Caucasus is drawn along the state border of the USSR (currently-the southern border of Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic and Georgia) and passes along the Akhuryan River, and then along a large natural boundary - the erosion-tectonic valley of the river. Arax. From the low current of the Arax river It goes by the Talysh idge and goes to the coast of the Caspian Sea at the point of Astara (Figure 1).

From the point of view of physical and geographical zoning, the Caucasus includes the following territorial units::

• Western and Middle Ciscaucasia;
• Tersko-Kum lowland;
• Greater Caucasus;
• The Colchian Lowland;
• The Kura Basin;
• Lenkoran lowland;
• Talysh Mountains;
• Small Caucasus;
• Javakheti-Armenian Highland, which is the northern part of the Armenian Highland.

 

The Greater and Lesser Caucasus are connected by the Likhsky Ridge, which is located to the east of the Colchis lowland.

From the point of view of physical and geographical zoning, the Caucasus includes several quite diverse territorial structures, and is not limited to only one Large Caucasian Ridge. Consequently, the animal species inhabit this territory, and even more so being native, can rightfully be classified as Caucasian.

These include the Bezoar goat and the Armenian mouflon, which are native representatives of the fauna of Armenia and the Caucasus. It is confirmed by scientific research and biological collections of the largest zoological museums in the world.
 

General help:

Bezoar Goat (Capra aegagrus) has a fairly extensive range. The species is widely spread in Turkey, the countries of the Caucasian Isthmus, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and some other Asian countries. Moreover, this species is found on the islands of the Greek archipelago, and has also been successfully acclimated to other continents, such as North America (USA, New Mexico). One of the subspecies (C. a.Aegagrus), identified by researchers (Danilkin, 2005), lives in Turkey, Iran and the countries of the Caucasian Isthmus-Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. The northernmost part of the modern range of the bezoar goat is in Russia.

The Armenian mouflon (Ovis orientalis gmelini), which is also called the Armenian mouflon or Transcaucasian Mountain sheep, is an indigenous species of fauna of the Armenian Highlands. It dwells in Armenia (north of the Arax River), eastern Turkey, north-eastern Iraq, and north-western Iran. Separate groups of Armenian mouflons are detected in the territory of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic and in the south-western part of Azerbaijan. Outside of Asia, the Armenian mouflon was successfully introduced to the United States.

According to the available data, the number of the species on the territory of Armenia is currently low. According to the most optimistic forecasts, the total population of the Armenian moufflon is only a few hundred individuals. In other parts of the range (Turkey, Iran), the number of the Armenian moufflon is much higher, the species is the object of trophy hunting.

It should also be noted that the Bezoar goat and the Armenian mouflon are native representatives of the fauna of the Caucasus, but not endemic to this mountainous region at the same time. The reason for this is the absence of any significant barriers to the settlement of these species of animals, between the southern part of the Caucasus and other mountain ranges located to the south and west of it. We can say more: the southern border of the Caucasus is rather arbitrary and was largely formed not as a result of geological phenomena, but of a variety of historical and geopolitical processes that took place over thousands of years in this part of the Eurasian continent.