ibex

ibex, any of several sure-footed, sturdy wild goats of the genus Capra in the family Bovidae (order Artiodactyla) that are found in the mountains of Europe, Asia, and northeastern Africa.

The European, or Alpine, ibex (C. ibex ibex) is typical. Adult males weigh around 100 kg (220 pounds), while females are about 50 kg (110 pounds). Males stand about 90 cm (3 feet) at the shoulder (females are about 10 cm [4 inches] shorter) and have brownish to gray fur, which is darker on the underparts. The male has a beard and large, semicircular horns with broad, transversely ridged front surfaces. The European ibex lives at altitudes close to the snow line and moves to lower altitudes in winter. It lives in exclusively male or female herds, but very old males are often solitary. Formerly common throughout the western and central Alps, C. ibex ibex is now greatly reduced in numbers. It is protected locally in the Italian Alps and has been reintroduced to France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and Slovenia.

Among the species closely related to the European ibex are the Siberian, or Asiatic, ibex (C. sibirica), which is larger and has a longer beard and horns, and the Nubian ibex (C. nubiana), which is smaller and has long, slender horns. Other ibexes include the Spanish ibex (C. pyrenaica) and the walia, or Abyssinian ibex (C. walie), which has been reduced to a single population of about 400 individuals in Ethiopia and whose numbers are still declining. Two subspecies of Spanish ibex are now extinct (C. pyrenaica pyrenaica, which lived in the Pyrenees, and C. pyrenaica lusitanica, which was found in Portugal) and one is vulnerable (C. pyrenaica victoriae, which lives in the Sierra de Gredos), but another is fairly abundant, with a population of about 9,000 head (C. pyrenaica hispanica). (For the Nilgiri ibex [Hemitragus hylocrius, or, by some classifications, Nilgiritragus hylocrius], see tahr.)

The rut occurs in early winter, and, after about 51/2 months, one kid is produced. The ibex can crossbreed with domestic goats and with wild goats (C. aegagrus). It has very good climbing skills but avoids deep snow. It can climb trees to browse foliage if the lower branches are sturdy enough to carry its weight.