Volume 25, Number 14 · September 28, 1978
Blue Sheep Zen
By Robert M. Adams
The Snow Leopard
by Peter Matthiessen
Viking, 352 pp., $12.95
Mountain Monarchs: Wild Sheep and Goats of the Himalaya
by George B. Schaller
University of Chicago Press, 425 pp., $25.00
During the fall of 1973 Peter Matthiessen accompanied George Schaller on a two-month expedition into the high mountain country of Nepal and Tibet. The land is forbidding as well as legendary for its wild beauty. The expedition was made during the onset of winter storms, in the months of October and November, because Schaller's aim was to study the mating behavior of certain wild sheep native to the district. Blue sheep, or bharal, undergo a concentrated period of rut in late fall; their behavior at this time is not only curious in itself, but may (it seems) provide clues to a somewhat vexed question among biologists whether they are more akin to sheep or goats. A matter of secondary interest for the expedition was investigation of the snow leopard, an elusive high-altitude predator, whose diet in these parts commonly includes a certain number of blue sheep.
Review, 2632 words
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