#### Hello friends, how are you all doing today, hope that you people will be fine and doing great in life. @steem.ofanimals organized a contest about animals care, I am going to share my knowledge and research about protected animals. #

"Protected Animals"

The protected animals which I am going to talk about is Markhor. Markhor is a like a goat, it has big hair in the chest region and long horns. It lives in the mountainous region of Pakistan, mainly in the Gilgit and Chitral divisions. Markhor is a protected animal in Pakistan, it is also our national animal. The number of Markhor has decrease a lot in past times; it was hunted and it's breeding percent is very less according to other mountainous animals. Pakistan wildlife protection team is working to save Markhor species.

--- ![markhor-2232084_1920.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmVquLgmZas4ZnzjTK2vE93JmWEm9djAijt9iWo5B6MeuJ/markhor-2232084_1920.jpg)[link](https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/04/15/09/39/markhor-2232084_1280.jpg) --- |Markhor population status| |-| > As, I mentioned above the population is less and it is a protected animal. Someone hunting markhor will pay a huge amount of penalty. * The population is Markhor is between 3500 to 5000. Our country trying its best to stop the killing of it and to serve, it is a part of habitat and a beautiful animal. It is special animal which can climb on mountains. --- |Q: What causes habitat and environmental changes so that this animal is threatened with extinction| |-| ![pexels-philippe-serrand-337910945-15085773.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmVCBkkbcAKh9qw5CR9sZVTjiz9HmXWBfDc5A3jKnE5zYJ/pexels-philippe-serrand-337910945-15085773.jpg)[link](https://www.pexels.com/photo/markhor-wild-goats-on-a-mountain-15085773/) * *Markhor habitat are snowy mountains, it lives on the top areas of mountains. It have large hooves like horses and have specialty to climb tough mountains. The reasons behind extinct is that sometimes while climbing they fall from the top of the mountains, but this happens rarely*. * *The main reasons behind the decrease in population is that Markhor were hunted in a huge proportion by the locals and also visitors. The killing has stopped to a major quantity but few killing happens still, the elite people pay huge amount in levy to hunt markhor with guns*. * *In cold mountainous areas, the food is availability for markhor is in less quantity, thus lessor energy and fewer breeding rate. In winter season, the breeding is very rare or doesn't occurs*. --- |Legal Status and Legal Protection| |-| ![markhor-6076394_1920.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmbUgzZR3rXEZCJcyz9SvMVi4CQeKrDTQZAX3MhPV9iM3V/markhor-6076394_1920.jpg) [link](https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2021/03/07/14/37/markhor-6076394_1280.jpg) --- * Under **Gilgit-Baltistan Wildlife Act** the hunt of Markhor is prohibited and limited. Government issue license to some people for hunt, it prohibited without license. There is a huge penalty on killing of Markhor. It is prohibited to hunt young and female markhor in Pakistan. --- --- ***Inviting my friends @paholags @sana-khan01 @sailawana*** #

Thank You