Because they are grazers, urials do not have to concern themselves with hunting. They range over large areas, preferring the company of other sheep. Their horns are used as blunt weapons both to seriously fight and for 'sport.'

Like most other grazers, urials have molars that are large and flat--perfect for eating grass. The land that sheep graze on is unproductive in human terms. Because the terrain is arid and rocky, and vegetation sometimes sparse, urials are able to utilize land that would be useless to most other creatures.

Male urials are noticably larger than females, and they fight over females during the rutting season. This time of year is the only period that males and females associate together. It takes just over five months for a young urial to be born, and the baby is raised within the protection of the herd. Twins are more common with urials than with some other sheep species. The usual lifespan for a urial in the wild is about six years.

Some near relatives to the urial live at very high altitudes, but this sheep is found primarily in rolling terrain and deserts from Kashmir to Iran, and in the mountainous regions of Cyprus. Where some sheep and goats will use the difficult terrain to escape their enemies, urials more often escape by speeding away

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