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 ...

of cashmere goat 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 ...

in northern

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 people of the Changthang 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 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 Changpa in the Changthang regions of

, including the Kharnak, Rupshu, Demchok/ Skakjung 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, 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 (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