SUMATRAN SEROW

Capricornis sumatraensis sumatraensis (Bechstein, 1799)

One of several subspecies of the common and widespread Asiatic or Mainland Serow, Capricornis sumatraensis the Sumatran Serow is restricted to the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. It has a coarse, variable-coloured, often dark, coat with a prominent white or brown neck mane, and a short beard from the mouth to the ears (Nowak and Paradiso, 1983). No population estimate is available but it has been severely reduced in numbers and range by excessive hunting for its flesh, hide and horns, and habitat loss to cultivation (Shackleton, 1997). Once widely occurring in the thick, wooded gorges and boulder-strewn slopes above 300 m on the slopes of volcanoes and mountains throughout Sumatra, it is now confined to the higher, more remote elevations of the Aceh highlands in the north, the Kerinci highlands in the centre and the Barisan highlands in the south (Shackleton, 1997). The Sumatran Serow is protected by law and occurs in several Protected Areas (Shackleton, 1997).

Nowak, R. M. and Paradiso, J. L. (Eds.). (1983). Walker's Mammals of the World 4^th Edition. Publ. by John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London.

Shackleton, D. M. 1997. Wild Sheep and Goats and their Relatives. IUCN/SSC Caprinae Specialist Group. IUCN: Gland. 390 pp.