Study of morphological characteristics of Wild Sheep sub-species in Haftad Gholleh Protected Area in Central Iranian Plateau

According to evolutionary and systematic view, Ovis is one of the most complicated species in mammals. The Iran’s central plateau with high and widespread mountains is an ideal natural habitat for wild sheep. The Haftad Gholleh Protected Area is located in the center of this plateau. Consequently, a large population of these wild sheep species can be found in this area. The present study was carried out with respect to morphological features of wild sheep including horn, color and patterns that was obtained using camera trapping records, quarry as well as direct observation of wild sheep in Haftad Golleh area. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS16 software. The research results indicate that there are three sub-species of wild sheep in Haftad Gholleh Protected Area. Two previous described species namely Armenian (Ovis ammon gmelini) and Isfahan (Ovis orientalis isphahanica) species and one new proposed sub-species or hybrid named as Arak wild sheep (Ovis orientalis arakica). The distribution of Isfahan and Armenian species has extended to Haftad Gholleh Protected Area. The highest number of population in wild sheeps belonged to Isfahan, Arak and Armenian species, respectively. Future study should be focused on parallel morphometric and genetic survey to clarify the status of the proposed sub species in Haftad Gholleh Protected Area