The ancestors of domestic goats were brave conquerors of impassable rocks - mountain goats. What are they remarkable for, where do they live and what do they eat? Information about them will be presented in this article.
General information
Capricorn is an animal that is a subspecies of the genus of wild mountain goats, with peculiar horns in the form of sabers. Outwardly, Capricorns are very similar to tours.
First of all, this species includes ibexes (very rare ibexes) living on the ridges of the mountains (between Piedmont and Savoy).
The subspecies under consideration also includes the Nubian ibex, as well as the Siberian and Pyrenean ibexes. In nature, the number of ibexes is quite large, and when they are crossed with other species, they give excellent offspring.
Below will be described ibex (ibex), aka mountain goat and alpine goat (family of artiodactyl animals) from the genus of mountain goats.
From the story of unique ibexes
In ancient times, ibex was the object of mystification, so all its parts of the body, eaten and not only (from blood and hair to excrement, etc.), were used in alternative medicine as a means to cure all kinds of diseases. All this led to the fact that Ibex goats in Europepractically died out. At the beginning of the 19th century, the number of these species in the entire Alpine region totaled just over 100 individuals, and they survived only in Gran Paradiso (Italy).
Y. Zumstein (forester) and A. Girtanner (naturalist) in 1816 were able to convince the authorities to keep the remaining ibex in this Italian region. And in 1854, even the King of Sardinia and Piedmont, Victor Emmanuel II, took these amazing phenomenal animals under personal protection.
Thanks to all these implemented programs (settlement of the Alpine mountains with ibexes), the mountain goat (see photo above) again lives in many areas of its original range. The individuals that exist today (ibexes) are descended from the same 100 animals that lived in Italy.
B. Emmanuel II refused Switzerland's request to sell ibexes, so the first such animals were smuggled into Switzerland only in 1906. The population of these goats today is quite numerous. And since 1977, their shooting has even been allowed (though controlled).
In total, the number of ibexes in the Alps is approximately 30-40 thousand animals. Now they are common in the mountains of Italy, Switzerland, Austria, France, Slovenia and Germany. The presence of such animals is quite beneficial for the prosperity of the resorts of the Alps, as they attract a large number of tourists from all over the world.
Mountain goat: photo, description
Mountain goats are a genus of artiodactyl animals (family of bovids). All their species, on the one hand, have common features, and on the other,they are quite variable. In this regard, scientists still cannot determine the exact number of breeds of these animals that exist in nature. Their number, according to various opinions, varies from 2-3 with a large number of subspecies to 9-10 species.
In addition, mountain goats are closely related to mountain sheep, which have many features similar to them. Their distant relatives are chamois and gorals, as well as bighorns.
Sizes of mountain goats - medium: length - 120-180 cm; at the withers, the height reaches 100 centimeters; weight - up to 60 kilograms in small species (females) and up to 155 kilograms - in goats of the largest species.
Outwardly, they appear to be slender and graceful animals, despite the fact that their legs are not very long and their body is strongly built. Their main distinguishing feature is the horns, which in males resemble sabers (up to 1 meter long), and in females - short daggers (about 18 cm long). Young animals are distinguished by horns curved in a graceful arc. Old males have twisted horns in the form of a spiral.
Mountain goats also have transverse thickenings on the horns (on the front surface), they are expressed in different species to varying degrees.
Distribution
Capricorn is an animal that lives in the Alps on the border between forest and glaciers at high altitudes (3500 meters). In winter, it usually lives in low areas, but in summer it can go down to alpine meadows in search of food. Capricorn spends the night high in the mountains.
In the rocky highlandsthese artiodactyls are safe. They are able to quickly rush along the scree, easily jump over rocky crevices, climb high on sheer and steep rocks and cliffs. Rather fast and constant movement is just a normal way of life for these unique animals.
Description of Ibex
Ibeks are the most unusual mountain species of goats. They are great climbers. It is very striking how fearlessly and masterfully they climb the rocks. They live in the most inaccessible mountainous regions of the Alps, as noted above, at high altitudes.
The length of the ibex reaches an average of 150 cm, and their height at the withers is about 90 cm. The female weighs 40 kg, and the male weighs up to 100 kg. The male ibex, as well as other species, is a goat with large curved horns (up to 1 meter long). Females have short, slightly curved horns.
Both sexes have beards. The summer color of the male's coat is dark brown, in females it is reddish with a golden hue. In winter, the coat of all ibexes is gray.
Food
Capricorn is an animal that eats a variety of plants. They prefer alpine grasses - bluegrass and fescue, but if necessary, they can also eat branches of shrubs and trees, lichens and mosses.
In general, mountain goats are very unpretentious and can even eat poisonous plants and dry grass. These animals have a strong need for s alt, and therefore they go to s alt licks whenever possible, covering distances of up to 15-20 kilometers.
About value
Since ancient times, people hunted mountain goats, because the horns of a large male represented a very valuable trophy. Finding this dexterous and cautious animal is quite difficult. In addition to horns, people also had other practical benefits from them: skins were used to make clothes and shoes, and the meat of these animals is a very tasty and easily digestible product. In cooking, fat was used, and for medicinal purposes - pellets of wool, undigested in the stomach (bezoar).
Such useful qualities of animals led to their domestication. Thanks to them, there are now a huge variety of breeds of domestic goats (downy, meat and dairy) in the world.
Now the mountain goat (ibex) is an animal that can be found in various zoos due to its easy tameability. Capricorns tolerate captivity well and breed quite easily.
Conclusion
Although a goat with big horns in the minds of many is a symbol of the unclean, often diabolical (compared to a meek sheep), in fact, these animals are very smart and even trainable (and rams are vice versa).
This is such an important role mountain goats play in the life of the peoples of the Mediterranean and Asia. And this circumstance is reflected in the name of one of the constellations of the Zodiac - Capricorn.
