Capra pyrenaica Schinz 1838
Creators: name: Don E. Wilson
name: Russell A. Mittermeier
Publisher: name: Lynx Edicions
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Artiodactyla
Bovidae
Capra
Capra pyrenaica

description: 180.
Iberian Ibex
Capra pyrenaica
French: Bouquetin d'Espagne / German: Iberischer Steinbock / Spanish: Cabra montés
Other common names: Spanish Ibex, Spanish Wild Goat
Taxonomy. Capra pyrenaica Schinz, 1838,
Pyrenees.
This species and the European Ibex (C. ibex) are monophyletic; the two species evolved by vicariance speciation from a single immigration of Capra into Europe. Preliminary genetics data indicate there is need of a taxonomic subspecies revision. Of four historically recognized races, two are extinct. The nominate subspecies pyrenaica (Schinz, 1838) lived in the Pyrenees in France, Spain, and Andorra until 1998 when the last individual died; the subspecies lusitanica (Schlegel, 1872) ocurred in northern Portugal and southern Galicia and disappeared at the end of 19" century. There are two extant subspecies.
Subspecies and Distribution.
C.p.hispanicaSchimper,1848—S&ESpain.
C. p. victoriae Cabrera, 1911 — N & W Spain and N Portugal (reintroduced).
Descriptive notes. Head—body 108-155 cm (males) and 97-130 cm (females), tail 12— 13 cm, shoulder height 65-89 cm (males) and 65-76 cm (females); weight 50.4-90 kg (males) and 31.3-41 kg (females). Horn length 42-101 cm (males), 13.5-28. 7 cm (females); horn basal circumference 20-26 cm (males), 8:6—-14 cm (females). Males can be 50% larger than females. Male horns grow upward, then curve out and back, with the tips pointing up or down; females’ horns are much shorter and grow up and back. Adult males in winter pelage are grayish to pale brown to whitish on the side of head, throat, and upper front and sides of the neck, as well as on the upper sides of the body, extending to the hindquarters. The forehead, beard, front and back of the neck, chest, brisket, and front of the shoulder and legs are black; there is a dark mid-dorsal stripe extending to the dark tail. There is usually a dark line of variable width extending from the dark back of the lower neck around the base of the neck to the dark chest. The lower sides of the body, the front of the upper hindlegs, and the lower front legs are black; the dark area of the lower body can be continuous with the dark area of the front shoulder. A narrow white rump patch, not extending above the base of the tail, is continuous with the white of the back of the hindlegs and white belly; the back of front leg is also white. Females have a uniformly brown body, except for white underparts, but also have a dark mid-dorsal stripe. Diploid chromosome numberis 60.
Habitat. Elevations range from near sea level to 3500 m. Habitats range from alpine to subalpine and lower elevations in open and closed pine and oak forests, shrublands, areas dominated by grasses and forbs, and mixtures of these types and, rarely, cultvated fields. These habitats are in or in proximity to rocky, rough, precipitous terrain that is essential for escape cover. Tall vegetation, when available, is used for thermal cover. Iberian Ibexes use lower-elevation habitats in winter and higher elevations in spring and summer. In areas with a high-elevation component, 80% of the population in summeris above 2300 m between July and September. Females occupy habitats with a lower component oftall vegetation, probably to better detect predators, and closer to rugged terrain, especially during and after parturition. After the breeding season, males may spend the summer in forested areas; females use more open areas. Larger mixed groups usually occur in open areas where visual communication is facilitated. In some areas, habitat use may be influenced by human disturbance: the ibexes may select habitats of lower quality that are farther from humans.
Food and Feeding. In the Gredos Mountains, where browse availability is low, grasses constitute 80% of diets in spring and summer, 75% in autumn, and 69% in winter. In higher-elevation mountains (Sierra Nevada) in south-eastern Spain, diets consisted of 80% grasses in July and 58% grasses in August. In lower-elevation mountains, browse predominated; annual diets were 72:4% browse, 8:4% forbs, and 19-2% grasses. Of the 126 plant species available, 36 species were detected in fecal samples. Population density was negatively correlated with diet diversity. Males consumed a higher percentage of browse than females. Diets were most influenced by plant diversity and structure, accessibility, and seasonal precipitation. In southern Spain, young animals were principally grazers, adult males were browsers, and females were intermediate feeders. In areas where foraging of Iberian Ibexes, domestic Sheep (Quis aries), domestic goats (C. hircus), free-ranging sheep (called “Mouflons”), and Common Fallow Deer (Dama dama) were sympatric, diet overlap was greater between wild and free-ranging domestic species than between wild and domestic ungulates. All species increased their intake of browse during winter, which was the season when competition was most likely to occur. There was a greater diversity of diet in wild species, and diversity of diets increased with decreasing ungulate densities. There was also a high dietary overlap of browse between Iberian Ibexes and Western Red Deer (Cervus elaphus). The greater the availability of palatable forage, the greater the amount of time spent foraging.
Breeding. Prior to parturition, females separate from young of the previous year and most yearlings leave female herds. Mating occurs in November-December. Males are polygynous, mating with several females. Older males do most of the mating. The presence of adult males probably stimulates ovulation in adult females. Females in the wild first give birth at age three and may reproduce until the age of 13. Gestation lasts 175-185 days; parturition occurs in May and earlyJune in rugged, rocky, steep terrain, where newborns are safer from predators. Twinning is rare. In some areas, females with young and yearlings use habitats with tall vegetation, probably because tall vegetation affords cover. In south-eastern Spain, neonates suckle 3-3 times/hour, but after a week, suckling frequency decreases to 1-6 times/hour. During the same period, the duration of suckling bouts decreased from 77 seconds to 26-5 seconds. The ratio of young (0-1 year old) per female ranged from 0-30 to 0-58 in one population during six years and 0-68 to 0-81 in another population during two years; higher survival was correlated with higher spring precipitation. Kid—ewe ratios ranged from 35-3 to 94 kids:100 ewes, and yearling—ewe ratios ranged from 12-5 to 44-8 yearlings:100 ewes. Annual yearling survival in two populations monitored for three years each ranged from 21% to 53% (females: 9-54%; males: 31-85%). There was a positive correlation between yearling survival and annual precipitation in August and September. Annual survival of young 0-1 years old was lower in populations with higher adult densities. Females can live up to 15 years in the wild.
Activity patterns. Foraging usually occurs in early morning and late in the day, with a midday rest period. They were observed feeding at night during summer and on moonlit nights. Adult females spend more time feeding during winter and spring than during the autumn mating season and summer. Females become more mobile in spring, when forage availability increases, and they engage in more agonistic behavior. Adult males spend more time in social interactions than females. In high-elevation areas, they use south-facing slopes in autumn and winter, and north-east-facing slopes during warm weather in spring and summer. In all seasons except winter, they use eastfacing slopes in mornings and west-facing slopes in afternoons.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. In spring, males form separate herds from females and occupy different elevations. Segregation occurs even in areas where they occupy the same elevation. Iberian Ibexes have a high dispersalability, about 1-2— 1-8 km/year. In high-elevation areas, there is a seasonal movement from lower elevations in winter to increasingly higher elevations as the snow line recedes. Home ranges are larger in spring than in winter. Most densities recorded varied between 1-2 ind/ km? and 4-4 ind/km?, with the highest density exceeding 15 ind/km?. In south-eastern Spain, females with young have larger home ranges (mean of 0-72 km?) than females without young (0-14 km®). Females of different ages did not have significant differences in home range size. In higher-elevation mountains, females’ home ranges were 1: 94 km? in autumn and 3-21 km? in spring. Population density, forage availability, and plant density influence home range size. Annual male population age structure in southern Spain from 1982 to 1987 varied as follows: 0-2 years old (27-9-43-2%), 2—4 years old (9-2-23-5%), 4-6 years old (10-2-21-8%), 6-8 years old (8-17-3%), 8-10 years old (5-8-18:7%), and ten years old (0-01-9-2%). Adult sex ratios were 1-100 males:77-192 females. Ratios of yearling males to yearling females were 100:14-170. During the monitoring of two populations for a total of nine years (one population for five years and the other for four years), the sex ratio favored females in only one year, indicating that during the first year, males had a higher survival rate, but adult sex ratios favored females due to the higher mortality of adult males. The highest percentage of mixed herds is in October (36:8%), November (63-6%), and December (45-2%), which coincides with the mating season.
Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. There are more than 50,000 Iberian Ibexes in Spain and about 100 in Portugal. They have reoccupied areas through restoration programs and natural dispersal where they were extirpated; e.g. subspecies victoriae recently expanded into northern Portugal, reestablishing a population there. There are 8000 wvictoriae in the Gredos Mountains in west-central Spain, and 30,000 hispanica in Andalusia in southern Spain and 8500 in eastern Spain; hispanica comprises 80% of the total population. They are the highest priced game mammal in Spain; about 1500 are legally killed each year. Illegal hunting is not a major problem. Livestock are a concern because they may be forage and space competitors, displacing ibexes from optimal habitats, and capable of transmitting diseases to wild populations. Exotics, especially the Aoudad (Ammotragus lervia), are also a threat. Aoudads were introduced in southern Spain and continue to increase in uncontrolled numbers and to disperse in arid, montane areas in habitats also favored by Iberian Ibexes. Aoudads are both potential competitors and transmitters of disease. Iberian Ibexes underwent significant population declines due to an outbreak of sarcoptic mange (Sarcoptes scabier); domestic animals and exotics are suspected vectors. Another concern is human disturbance in protected areas, which could displace the ibex from preferred habitats and result in decreased body condition and productivity. Additional concerns are habitat fragmentation and lack of ecological and population status information.
Bibliography. Acevedo & Cassinello (2009), Acevedo, Cassinello & Gortazar (2007), Acevedo, Cassinello, Hortal & Gortazar (2007), Alados (1986), Alados & Escés (1987, 1988, 1996), Cabrera (1911, 1914), Carranza (2010), Cuartas et al. (1996), Escés & Alados (1991), Fandos & Vigal (1989), Gonzélez et al. (2007), Gonzélez-Candela et al. (2006), Granados et al. (2007), Herrero & Pérez (2008), Kazanskaya et al. (2007), Manceau, Crampe et al. (1999), Manceau, Després et al. (1999), Moco et al. (2006), Palomo & Gisbert (2002), Pérez et al. (2006), Santiago-Moreno et al. (2007).
description: Published as part of Don E. Wilson & Russell A. Mittermeier, 2011, Bovidae, pp. 444-779 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 2 Hoofed Mammals, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions on pages 676-677, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6512484