Arabian Tahr - the phantom of the Hajar Mountains

The rugged cliffs of Jabal Aswad, the "black mountain" in the eastern Hajar Mountains are home to one of the least known and least explored, shyest mammals in the world, the Arabian tahr, a half-goat.

The tahr, a creature between a goat and an ibex, is a relative of the musk ox and the chamois. A larger variety of the tahr used to live in the oak forests of Europe, albeit between the last ice ages around 100,000 and one million years ago. The tahr is a relict of primeval fauna that could only survive in one of the most remote corners of the earth. The tahr's survival instinct causes it to bolt at the slightest sound.

Few people have ever seen it in the wild, which is why it is considered the phantom of the Hajar Mountains. It is believed that around 200 of this rare species still live throughout the Hajar Mountains.