Takin plush toys and information about this Goat Antelope
The Takin, Budorcas taxicolor, is a little known and very rare animal. Living in exceedingly rough mountainous country from Bhutan to southern Shensi province in China, at elevations of eight thousand to fourteen thousand feet, the takin makes elusive prey in the dense thickets of bamboo and brush that are its home.
The Takin is a heavy, clumsy animal, with a shaggy coat of yellowish hair. It spends the daytime in the thickets of rhododendron and bamboo near timber line, leaving its shelter in the evening and early morning to graze on nearby grassy slopes. Breaking narrow trails through the bush,
it follows them regularly to favorite feeding grounds and salt licks. To the Chinese, the animal is yeh niu, meaning "wild cattle." They trap the takin for its flesh, using dead falls, spear traps, and snares. When the natives approach a herd they do so with great caution, claiming that if one beast is wounded, the rest will charge the hunter, and that they may also charge without even this degree of provocation.
Very shy and secretive, the takin associates in small groups of two to eight. (A related species, the Golden Takin, travels in larger herds.) When alarmed, the takin gives a hoarse warning cough; but during the rut in July and August, bulls utter a loud bellow. The calves are born in March, and three days after birth they are able to follow their mother around.
Seen from the side, the takin, with its curving horns, looks much like a wildebeest. It stands well over three feet at the shoulder, with front legs that are especially stout. A short face and thick muzzle are characteristic of the head, which the takin carries low, in oxlike fashion.
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