Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Capra pyre­naica is found in the Car­zorla-Se­gura and East­ern Sierra Nevada moun­tain ranges on the Iber­ian Penin­sula, Spain. (Grz­imek, 1990)

• Biogeographic Regions
• palearctic
  • native

Habi­tat

Span­ish ibex live in moun­tain­ous ter­rain gen­er­ally above 800m. They pre­fer forested areas with rock out­crop­pings, conif­er­ous trees, and de­cid­u­ous trees (in­clud­ing Holm oaks). Forests with mul­ti­ple strata in the canopy are pre­ferred. The lower canopy strata pro­vide shade cover to es­cape heat dur­ing mid-day. (Escos, 1992)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest
• mountains

• Range elevation

  800 (low) m

  2624.67 (low) ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Span­ish ibex are gen­er­ally brown­ish to gray­ish in color. They mea­sure about 65-75cm tall at the shoul­der, are 100-140 cm long, and weigh 35-80 kg. Tail lenghth is 10-15 cm. Males are larger than fe­males. Both sexes have horns. The horns of males are much larger and bet­ter de­vel­oped than those of fe­males. Horns of the males reach 75 cm or more in length and curve back over their heads. (Grz­imek, 1990)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Range mass

  35 to 80 kg

  77.09 to 176.21 lb

• Range length

  100 to 140 cm

  39.37 to 55.12 in

De­vel­op­ment

See re­pro­duc­tion.

Re­pro­duc­tion

Males com­pete to mate with fe­males by head butting.

• Mating System
• polygynous

Breed­ing oc­curs from No­vem­ber through De­cem­ber, peak­ing in the first half of De­cem­ber. Fe­males in es­trus sig­nal to males that they are ready to mate by pro­duc­ing cer­tain pheromones. dur­ing the rut, males bat­tle with each other for the right to mate by butting heads. The ges­ta­tion pe­riod of C. pyre­naica is 161-168 days. The peak birthing pe­riod is in mid-May. Fe­males breed every year and typ­i­cally have 1-2 young per year. Fe­males often find a re­mote, in­ac­ces­si­ble lo­ca­tion with thick brush for birthing. After giv­ing birth, fe­males and young con­gre­gate in groups. Males are full grown and reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity at age three. Fe­males are full grown and reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity at age 1.5. (Al­varez, 1990; Al­a­dos, 1988; Grizmek, 1990)

• Key Reproductive Features
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
  • internal
• viviparous

• Breeding season

  mating occurs from November through December, and females typically gice birth in mid-May.

• Range number of offspring

  1 to 2

• Average number of offspring

  1.5

  AnAge

• Range gestation period

  5.37 to 5.6 months

• Average gestation period

  5.485 months

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  1.5 to 3 years

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  1.5 to 3 years

Fe­males care for the pre­co­cial young (Nowak, 1990)

• Parental Investment
• altricial
• female parental care
• post-independence association with parents

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Span­ish ibex can live 12-16 years in the wild. (Grz­imek, 1990)

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  12 to 16 years

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  16.0 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Be­hav­ior

Span­ish ibex ex­hibit herd­ing be­hav­ior. Males and fe­males with young are seg­re­gated into sep­a­rate groups dur­ing most of the year. The young of the year gen­er­ally travel in the cen­ter of the group for pro­tec­tion from preda­tors. Fe­males tend to be soli­tary dur­ing the birthing sea­son, but join the herd lat­ter. In the fall, mixed sex herds of adults sep­a­rate from mixed sex herds of ju­ve­niles. In the adult herds, one dom­i­nant male and up to sev­eral sub­or­di­nate males as­so­ci­ate with mul­ti­ple fe­males. There is a strict dom­i­nance of hi­er­ar­chy among the males, and only the dom­i­nant male breeds. The dom­i­nant male de­fends his ter­ri­tory and herd of fe­males from other males. Males form the hi­er­ar­chy and de­fend their ter­ri­tory by ag­gres­sive pos­tur­ing and fight­ing by butting heads. After the breed­ing sea­son, the adults again seg­re­gate into herds of males and fe­males. (Grz­imek, 1990; Al­varez, 1990)

• Key Behaviors
• motile
• territorial
• social
• dominance hierarchies

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

• Perception Channels
• tactile
• chemical

Food Habits

Span­ish ibex feed pri­mar­ily by brows­ing. Their main for­age is Holm oak (Quer­cus ilex). They browse these oaks as well as feed on the acorns. They also feed on forbs (5% of diet) and grasses (10% of diet). For­age of forbs and grasses is se­lected more in spring and early sum­mer. (Gar­cia-Gon­za­les, 1992; Mar­tinez, 1988)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • folivore
  • granivore

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• seeds, grains, and nuts

Pre­da­tion

Adult Span­ish ibex have no nat­ural preda­tors ex­cept hu­mans. The young are sus­cep­ti­ble to pre­da­tion by ea­gles and foxes. When dan­ger is de­tected, usu­ally by sight or smell, an alarm whis­tle is given and the herd flees in columns led by an adult male or fe­male. (Grz­imek, 1990)

• Known Predators

  • eagles (Accipitridae)
  • foxes (Vulpes)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Be­cause of its feed­ing be­hav­ior, C. pyre­naica in­flu­ences suc­ces­sion of plants in its habi­tat. It also is a pri­mary con­sumer, con­vert­ing the en­ergy stored in plants to a form which is then avail­able to its preda­tors.

• Ecosystem Impact
• creates habitat

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Span­ish ibex are prized as tro­phy game an­i­mals. The flesh is con­sid­ered a del­i­cacy. They are im­por­tant for tourism, bring­ing many peo­ple to the parks on the Iber­ian Penin­sula. (Grz­imek, 1990)

• Positive Impacts
• food
• body parts are source of valuable material
• ecotourism

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Span­ish ibex po­ten­tially com­pete with graz­ing live­stock. (Gor­tazac, 2000)

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Con­ser­va­tion ef­forts are being fo­cused on habi­tat preser­va­tion and restora­tion and look­ing at com­pe­ti­tion with in­tro­duced species such red deer, like those in­tro­duced into Car­zorla-Se­gura park. (Grz­imek, 1990)

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Federal List

  Endangered

• CITES

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Dil­lon Blaha (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin-Stevens Point, Chris Yahnke (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin-Stevens Point.

Ref­er­ences

Al­a­dos, C., J. Escos. 1988. Par­tu­ra­tion Dates and Mother-Kid Be­hav­ior in Span­ish Ibex (*Capra pre­naica*) in Spain. Jour­nal of Mam­mal­ogy, 69(1): 172-175.

Al­varez, F. 1990. Horns and Fight­ing in Male Span­ish Ibex, *Capra pyre­naica*. Jour­nal of Mam­mal­ogy, 71(4): 608-616.

Escos, J, , C. L. Al­a­dos. 1992. Habi­tat Pref­er­ence of Span­ish Ibex and Other Un­gu­lates in Sier­ras De Ca­zorla Y Se­gura (Spain). Mam­malia, 56(3): 393-406.

Gar­cia-Gon­za­les, R., P. Cuar­tas. 1992. Food Habits of *Capra pyre­naica*, *Cervus ela­phus* and *Dama dama* in the Ca­zorla Sierra (Spain). Mam­malia, 56(2): 195-202.

Gor­tazar, C., J. Her­rero, R. Vil­la­fuerte, J. Marco. 2000. His­tor­i­cal ex­am­i­na­tion of the sta­tus of large mam­mals in Aragon, Spain. Mam­malia, 64(4): 411-422.

Grz­imek, B. 1990. Grz­imek’s En­cy­clo­pe­dia of Mam­mals. New York: Mc­Graw-Hill Pub­lish­ing Com­pany.

Mar­tinez, T. 1988. The Food Habits of the Span­ish Wild Goat (*Capra Pyre­naica*) in the Sierra De Tejeda (Granada). Mam­malia, 52(2): 284-285.

Nowak, R. 1991. Walker's Mam­mals of the World, Fifth Edi­tion. Bal­ti­more, Lon­don: The John Hop­kin's Uni­ver­sity Press.