Capra pyrenaica
The Alpine ibex was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. It is classified in the genus "Capra" (Latin for "goat") with at least seven other species of wild goats. Both "Capra" and "Ovis" (sheep) descended from a goral-like animal from the Miocene and early Pliocene, whose fossils are found in Kenya, China, and Slovenia. The genus "Tossunnoria" appears in China during the late Miocene and appears to have been intermediate between gorals and goats. Fossils of Alpine ibex date back to the late Pleistocene, when the Spanish ibex and it probably evolved from the extinct Pleistocene species "Capra camburgensis". The Nubian ("C. nubiana"), walia ("C. walie"), and Siberian ibexes ("C. sibirica") were previously considered to be subspecies of the Alpine ibex, giving populations in the Alps the trinomial of "C. i. ibex".