The Changthangi or Changpa is a

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

cashmere goat A cashmere goat is a type of goat that produces cashmere wool, the goat's fine, soft, downy, winter undercoat, in commercial quality and quantity. This undercoat grows as the days get shorter and is associated with an outer coat of coarse hair, w ...

native to the high plateaus of

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and India an ...

northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is closely associated with the

nomadic Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...

Changpa The Changpa, or Champa, are a semi-nomadic Tibetan people found mainly in the Changtang in Ladakh, India. A smaller number resides in the western regions of the Tibet Autonomous Region and were partially relocated for the establishment of t ...

people of the

Changthang The Changtang (alternatively spelled Changthang or Qangtang) is a part of the high altitude Tibetan Plateau in western and northern Tibet extending into the southern edges of Xinjiang as well as southeastern Ladakh, India, with vast highlands and g ...

plateau. It may also be known as the Ladakh Pashmina or Kashmiri. The intense cold of the region causes the goats to grow a thick undercoat, which is harvested to produce the fine

pashmina Pashmina (, ) refers to, depending on the source, the cashmere wool of the Changthangi cashmere goat,Janet Rizvi: ''Pashmina: The Kashmir Shawl and Beyond''. Marg Foundation, 2009. ISBN 978-8185026909. fine Kashmiri cashmere wool,Robert R. Fran ...

grade of cashmere. In the twenty-first century the quality of the pashmina is threatened by global

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

; approximately three quarters of Indian pashmina production is from these goats. They are also used as

pack animal A pack animal, also known as a sumpter animal or beast of burden, is a working animal used to transport goods or materials by carrying them, usually on its back. Domestic animals of many species are used in this way, among them alpacas, Bact ...

s and for

meat Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...

Description

These goats are generally domesticated and are reared by

communities called the

in the

regions of

, including the Kharnak,

Rupshu Rupshu is a high elevation plateau and valley and an eponymous community development block in southeast Ladakh. It is between the Startsapuk Tso and Tso Moriri, and west of Mahe. The Salt Valley and the Puga Valley to its north are also part o ...

, Demchok/

Skakjung __NOTOC__ Skakjung or Kokzhung is 45–kilometer long pasture land in Indus River valley in Ladakh, Southern Ladakh. It is traditionally used by nomads of nearby villages such as Chushul and Nyoma as well as Rupshu. The Skakung pasture land can be ...

and the

Pangong Lake Pangong Tso or Pangong Lake (; zh, s=班公错, p=Bān gōng cuò; ) is an endorheic lake spanning eastern Ladakh and West Tibet situated at an elevation of . It is long and divided into five sublakes, called ''Pangong Tso'', ''Tso Nyak'', ...

regions. The goats survive on grass in Ladakh, where temperatures plunge to as low as . These goats provide the wool for Kashmir's famous ''pashmina'' shawls. Shawls made from Pashmina wool are considered very fine, and are exported worldwide. The Changthangi goats have revitalised the poor economy of Changthang, Ladakh where the wool production generates more than $8 million a year.

Noori Noori () is a Pakistani rock band from Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, formed in 1996. The group was formed by songwriter, lead vocalist, and guitarist, Ali Noor, along with his younger brother Ali Hamza, who were soon joined by bassist Muhammad Ali ...

, the world's first cloned Pashmina goat, was cloned at the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry of the

Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir is an agricultural university located in Shalimar, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India. With its main campus and Faculty of Horticulture in Shalimar, Srinagar, the u ...

(SKUAST) in Shuhama, 25 km east of Srinagar, on 15 March 2012.

Characteristics

The Changthangi is a small goat, standing about at the

withers Withers are the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, this ridge is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, catt ...

, and weighing on average approximately . Both sexes are horned; the horns are large and twisted, and may reach a length of . The ears are small and upright. The coat consists of an outer coat of long hair, and a thick undercoat of fine pashmina; it is commonly white, but can also be black, brown or grey. The skin is white or pale brown.

References

Goat breeds Fiber-producing goat breeds Meat goat breeds Goat breeds originating in India Cashmere wool ar:ماعز البشمين cs:Kašmírská koza de:Kaschmirziege eo:Kaŝmirkapro {{bots, deny=Citation bot

Description

Characteristics

See also

References