Trivia question for Apr-27-2011

While researching the same area of the globe that Carter did for yesterday’s trivia, Olivia came across these guys.  These are sturdy ‘goat-antelope’ which use their sharp horns to defend its territory from others.

These guys inhabit steep, rugged hills up to an elevation of 4,500 m asl. It prefers rocky terrain but is also found in forests and flat areas. It is able to swim to small offshore islands. This species has a moderate level of tolerance to human disturbance, and could persist well in habitat fragments and secondary forests, though farmlands are avoided.  It grazes on grass and also eats shoots and leaves. It is most active at dawn and dusk, and spends the rest of the day in thick vegetation. It has paths along which it moves, and traditional spots where it marks its territory and deposits its droppings.

So here are Olivia’s questions:  What is this odd looking ‘goat-antelope” and where can they be found?  Also, tell us how large the average herd gets?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

I thought that by giving the clue about Olivia finding this animal in the same region as Carter found his the day before that we would get a lot of folks getting the animal correct and I was right.  16 of you sent in comments naming this animal but no one got all the questions answered, which made Olivia smile.  The goat-antelope we featured is the Mainland Serow.

The Mainland Serow (Capricornis milneedwardsii) is a species of goat antelope native to China and Southeast Asia. The name “mainland serow” was formerly referring to Capricornis sumatraensis, which used to be the scientific name for all serows in the mainland and Sumatra when they were all considered to be the same species.  3 species subsequently split from Capricornis sumatraensis and this scientific name now only refers to the serows in Sumatra and Malaysia.

As for the question about the average herd size, that was sort of a trick question Olivia came up with.  You see these guys are solitary animals and therefore do not travel in herds.  Occasionally you will find a small group of 3-4 animals buy never in a herd.  Here is more on these guys:  Mainland Serow

Thanks for playing along 😉