West Caucasian tur
Capra caucasica
yakov_oskanov · Cherekskiy rayon
Key facts in one look
- Size
- 78–110 cm shoulder
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Status in Georgia
- Resident, very rare
- Habitat
- Subalpine and alpine slopes
- Family
- Bovidae
- Conservation
- EN / EN
The West Caucasian tur (Capra caucasica) is a wild goat with the smallest range in its genus. It lives only in the western Greater Caucasus, in Georgia and Russia, and the range of the typical form barely reaches 120 km in length. In Georgia it is known from Svaneti and Abkhazia. In the 1990s about 2,500 tur were counted here; recent data put the number at only about 100. It is a close relative of the East Caucasian tur, and the main difference is in the horns. The West Caucasian male's horns curve like a scimitar and carry strong cross ridges on the front, while the East Caucasian tur's horns are thicker and twist in an open spiral. It is listed as Endangered (EN) both globally and on Georgia's Red List. If you see a tur in the high mountains of Svaneti, watch from a distance: here every animal counts.
Identification
West Caucasian tur: how to identify it
The West Caucasian tur is a large, sturdy wild goat with a short tail and a short, broad beard. Adult males carry scimitar-shaped horns with cross ridges. In summer it is reddish-brown with a yellowish belly and darker legs; in winter it turns greyish-brown. You can tell it from the East Caucasian tur by the horns: that species' horns are thicker and twist in an open spiral.
Males are much larger than females. An adult male's body is 150–165 cm long; it stands 95–110 cm at the shoulder and weighs 65–100 kg. A female's body is 120–140 cm long, 78–90 cm at the shoulder, and she weighs 50–60 kg. The tail is only 10–14 cm.
The male's horns are fairly short and massive. They sweep back like a scimitar, with the tips pointing down and inward. The front carries strong cross ridges set close together, and the horns reach up to 75 cm. Females have much smaller horns. The summer coat is reddish-brown, the belly yellowish and the legs darker. By winter the coat turns greyish-brown. Males have a short, broad beard.
The East Caucasian tur is the closest lookalike. Its male's horns are thicker, round at the base and twist in an open spiral, while the West Caucasian tur's are thinner, shorter and barely twisted. In Georgia the place helps too: the West Caucasian tur is known from Svaneti and Abkhazia, while the East Caucasian tur lives in the eastern Greater Caucasus. The wild goat has long, scimitar-shaped horns but a lighter build. The chamois shares the West Caucasian tur's mountains, but it is much smaller and has short, hooked horns.
Not every tur in the wild can be told apart this easily. Between the two species, on the Russian side from the Teberda valley to Bezengi, lives an intermediate, possibly hybrid population whose horns have a faint spiral twist. The hybrid zone may be spreading westwards. So look at horn shape together with the place, and do not decide on one feature.
The West Caucasian tur is endemic to the western Greater Caucasus and occurs only in Georgia and Russia. It lives mostly in the subalpine and alpine belts, from 800 to 4,000 m above sea level. Its habitat resembles the East Caucasian tur's, but here more rain and snow fall and the snow lies deeper. Outside the snowy season it rarely enters forest, because forest in the western Caucasus is mostly dense fir and spruce. Where pine is more common, it stays in forest more readily. In Georgia it is known from Svaneti and occurs at no more than 5 sites in the country. In Abkhazia it has also been reported from the Pskhu-Gumista and Ritsa nature reserves, but there, as on almost all of the southern slope, it appears only seasonally. Its range is wider on the northern slope than on the southern one.
The West Caucasian tur feeds on plants. More than a hundred plant species have been recorded in its diet, grasses above all. In winter it often browses on pine, spruce and willow. It visits salt licks mainly in late spring and early summer. If its feeding and resting places lie far apart, it may walk up to 20 km a day.
Tur live in herds whose make-up changes with the season. Males stay higher up from May to November, while in summer females form groups of about 12 with their young. Where tur are numerous, a summer herd averages about 12 animals and a winter herd reaches 20. In winter they gather on sunny slopes, and 30–80% of the animals come down below the treeline. Their daily and seasonal movements cover up to 20 km, though usually much less and mostly up and down the slope. They rest in the hot hours of the day. The rut lasts from mid-November to early January, and males fight fiercely over females. Gestation lasts 150–160 days, and the young are born in May–July. A female has a single kid weighing 3.5–4.2 kg at birth. It starts eating grass at one month and is weaned at three months. Females mature at about two years, males at five. Avalanches are the main natural cause of death in adult tur, and their predators are the wolf and the lynx.
In the 2020 global assessment, the West Caucasian tur is Endangered (EN). Its range covers about 3,300 km², it is known from fewer than 5 locations, and the number of mature animals is not much above 2,500. The whole population is estimated at about 4,000–5,000 animals and is declining. Georgia's 2014 Red List also lists it as Endangered (EN). It is listed in Appendix II of CITES. In Georgia the situation is especially serious. About 2,500 tur were estimated in the 1990s and about 1,000 in the 2000s. Aerial and ground counts in 2013 found only a few mature animals, and recent data put the number at about 100. Part of this difference may come from tur being counted under different taxonomic approaches at different times. Poaching is the main threat: tur are killed for meat, hide and horns, and the horns are made into drinking horns (kantsi). Other threats are competition with domestic sheep and goats for food, habitat loss and harsh, snowy winters. The hybrid zone may be spreading westwards, because the East Caucasian tur is far more numerous, and this narrows the West Caucasian tur's range even further. The tur holds an important place in Georgian folklore.
Related guides
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Yes, but very few. In Georgia it is known from Svaneti and Abkhazia and occurs at no more than 5 sites. About 2,500 tur were estimated in the 1990s, and recent data put the number at about 100. Counts in 2013 found only a few mature animals.
In the high mountains of Svaneti, in the subalpine and alpine belts. In Abkhazia, in the Pskhu-Gumista and Ritsa nature reserves, it appears only seasonally. In winter it comes down to sunny slopes near the treeline, and in summer it spreads higher and wider. If you see one, watch from a distance and do not approach.
Above all by the male's horns. The West Caucasian tur's horns are scimitar-shaped, relatively thin and short, with strong cross ridges on the front. The East Caucasian tur's are thicker and twist in an open spiral. They also live in different areas: the West Caucasian tur in the western Greater Caucasus, the East Caucasian tur in the east. Between them live tur of intermediate form, so do not decide on one feature.
An adult male stands 95–110 cm at the shoulder and weighs 65–100 kg. A female is smaller: 78–90 cm at the shoulder and 50–60 kg. The male's horns grow up to 75 cm; the female's are much shorter.
Plants. More than a hundred plant species have been recorded in its diet, grasses above all. In winter it also browses on pine, spruce and willow, and in late spring it visits salt licks. It is not a predator.
No. The West Caucasian tur is not venomous and does not attack people. The risk arises when you chase it on a steep, rocky slope or set a dog on it. Watch from a distance and do not disturb it.
Yes. Georgia's Red List lists it as Endangered (EN), and hunting it is banned. Globally it is also EN. Poaching is the main threat, and only about 100 tur remain in Georgia.
References
What this profile is based on
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
Prepared by the Reptiles.ge editorial team from the sources listed here.
