Alpine Ibex

• Kingdom               :Animalia
• Phylum                 :Chordata
• Class                      :Mammalia
• Order                    :Artiodactyla
• Family                   :Bovidae
• Subfamily             :Caprinae
• Genus                    :Capra
• Scientific Name    :Capra ibex

The Alpine ibex (Capra ibex), also known as the steinbock, bouquetin, or simply ibex, is a species of wild goat that lives in the mountains of the European Alps. It is a sexually dimorphic species with larger males who carry larger, curved horns. The coat colour is typically brownish grey. Alpine ibex tend to live in steep, rough terrain near the snow line. They are also social, although adult males and females segregate for most of the year, coming together only to mate. Four distinct groups exist; adult male groups, female-offspring groups, groups of young individuals, and mixed sex groups.

During the breeding season, males fight for access to females and use their long horns in agnostic behaviours. After being extirpated from most areas by the 19th century, the Alpine ibex was successfully reintroduced to parts of its historical range. All individuals living today descend from the stock in Gran Paradiso National Park in Aosta Valley and from the neighbouring valley of Maurienne, now part of the Vanoise National Park linked to the former. These two national parks are connected and have been specially created to help the ibex to thrive. The ibex is the emblem of both the Gran Paradiso National Park and the Vanoise National Park. The species is currently listed as of least concern by the IUCN, but went through a population bottleneck and therefore has low genetic diversity.

Appearance

Compared with other members of its genus, the Alpine ibex has a short, broad head and a duller coat. It has brownish grey hair over most of the body, a pale abdomen and slightly darker markings on the chin and throat and in a stripe along the back. They moult twice a year, firstly in April or May, and then again in September, when they replace the short summer coat with thicker hair and a woolly undercoat.

Males commonly grow to a height of 90 to 101 centimetres (35 to 40 in) at the withers, with a body length of 149 to 171 centimetres (59 to 67 in) and weigh from 67 to 117 kilo grams (148 to 258 lb). Females are noticeably smaller, with a shoulder height of 73 to 84 centimetres (29 to 33 in), a body length of 121 to 141 centimetres (48 to 56 in), and a weight of 17 to 32 kilo grams (37 to 71 lb). Both male and female Alpine ibexes have large, backwards-curving, horns with numerous ridges along their length. At 69 to 98 centimetres (27 to 39 in), those of the males are substantially larger than those of females, which reach only 18 to 35 centimetres (7.1 to 13.8 in) in length.

Distribution and ecology:

The Alpine ibex was, at one point, restricted only to the Gran Paradiso National Park in northern Italy, and in the Maurienne Valley in the French Alps but in recent years it was both reintroduced to and recolonised most of the European Alps. It is now found in most or all the Italian and French alpine ranges, southern Germany, Switzerland and Austria. It was also introduced to Bulgaria and Slovenia.

An excellent climber, its preferred habitat is the rocky region along the snow line above alpine forests, where it occupies steep, rough terrain at elevations of 1,800 to 3,300 metres (5,900 to 10,800 ft). Alpine ibex are typically absent from woodland areas although adult males in densely populated areas may stay in larch and mixed larch-spruce woodland if there is no snow.Males spend the winter in coniferous forests.For most of the year, males and females occupy different habitat. Females rely on steep terrain more so than males.Males use lowland meadows during the spring, which is when snow melts and green grass appears.They then climb to alpine meadows during the summer. When winter arrives, both sexes move to steep rocky slopes that amass little snow.They prefer slopes of 30–45° and use small caves and overhangs for shelter.Home ranges are highly variable, depending on the availability of resources, and vary in size throughout the year. Figures of anything from 180 to 2,800 hectares (0.69 to 10.81 sq mi; 1.8 to 28.0 km2) have been recorded.Home ranges tend to be largest during summer and autumn, smallest in winter and intermediate in spring.Female home ranges are usually smaller than those of males. Alpine ibexes appear to have a low rate of predation and in Gran Paradiso typically die of age, starvation or disease.