Capricornis
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The serow (, or ), is any of four
species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of medium-sized
goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...
-like or
antelope The term antelope refers to numerous extant or recently extinct species of the ruminant artiodactyl family Bovidae that are indigenous to most of Africa, India, the Middle East, Central Asia, and a small area of Eastern Europe. Antelopes do ...
-like mammals in the genus ''Capricornis''. All four species of serow were, until recently, classified under '' Naemorhedus'', which now only contains the
goral The gorals are four species in the genus ''Naemorhedus''. They are small ungulates with a goat-like or antelope-like appearance. Until recently, this genus also contained the serow species (now in genus '' Capricornis''). Etymology The original ...
s.


Extant species

This genus has been analyzed, studied and reclassified a number of times. In 2005, ''
Mammal Species of the World ''Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference'' is a standard reference work in mammalogy giving descriptions and Bibliographic database, bibliographic data for the known species of mammals. It is now in its third edition, ...
'' (3rd ed.) listed six different species (''C. crispus'', ''C. milneedwardsii'', ''C. rubidus'', ''C. sumatraensis'', ''C. swinhoei'', and ''C. thar''), with two subspecies of ''C. milneedwardsii''. The current consensus recognises the following four species, with ''milneedwardsii'' and ''thar'' demoted to subspecies of ''C. sumatraensis'': Serows live in south-central, southeast and
eastern Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan ...
. Their coloration varies by species, region, and individual. However, the different species are not particularly
sexually dimorphic Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...
, as both males and females have beards and small horns (which are often shorter than their ears). Like their smaller relatives, the gorals, serows are often found grazing on rocky and forested hillsides, though typically at a lower elevation in places where the two species'
territories A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...
overlap; gorals tend to be wary and typically retreat to higher elevations and steeper mountainsides. Serows are slightly larger and slower-moving, and somewhat less agile, than gorals; however, they can still nimbly climb up or down the slopes to escape predation or to find appropriate shelter during cold winters or hot summers. Serows, unlike gorals, make use of their
preorbital gland The preorbital gland is a paired exocrine gland found in many species of artiodactyls, which is homologous to the lacrimal gland found in humans. These glands are trenchlike slits of dark blue to black, nearly bare skin extending from the media ...
s in territorial scent marking. Fossils of serow-like animals date as far back as the late
Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Caprinae The subfamily Caprinae, also sometimes referred to as the tribe Caprini, is part of the ruminant family Bovidae, and consists of mostly medium-sized bovids. A member of this subfamily is called a caprine. Prominent members include sheep and g ...
subfamily may have been very similar to modern serows. The serow subfamily population as a whole is considered endangered. Most serow species are included in the red list of IUCN with decreasing populations. The Japanese serow is better protected than the other sub-species of serows.


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