CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CAPRA SIBRICA, THE ASIATIC IBEX

14.1 The Living Animal

14.1.1 Zoology The ibex (fi g. 198) is a wild goat with a rather massive built and impres- sive horns. Bucks stand about one metre at the shoulder, females are smaller and less massive. The most impressive feature of the ibex are the scimitar-like curved horns with lengths of 1–1.15 m around the curve; those of the females are smaller. The horns are regularly ridged, lacking the prominent knobs as present in the bezoar goat (see next section) and feral domestic goats. In older bucks the curvature of the horns is somewhat longer: the tips are directed downwards and not backwards. There is no anterior keel and the anterior part of the horn is fl at; the cross-section through the base is almost square. Typical of all goat species is that both sexes bear horns, though those of the females are usually smaller and less massive. Goats, wild as well as domestic, have a short, upright held tail and the males have a beard below the chin. Wild goats, including the markhor, are expert climbers, sure-footed, leaping from ledge to ledge and balancing on nothing more than a pinnacle of rock. They are able to sustain on the most coarse and thorny plants. All wild goats live in large herds up to forty or fi fty individuals; occasional sometimes even much larger assemblages are seen of ibexes. The Asiatic or Siberian ibex is found above the tree line on the steep slopes, inaccessible to most other animals, of the western Himalayas on both sides of the main Himalayan range, and of the mountain ranges of Kashmir and Baltistan. They are not found east of the Sutlej river, nor south of the Himalayas.

14.1.2 Related Species Closely related to the ibex is the bezoar goat, or Sindh ibex (Capra aegagrus; fi g. 199). It is a wild goat, generally accepted as the ancestor asiatic ibex 175 of the domestic goat (Capra hircus). The bezoar goat is slightly smaller than the ibex and more gracile, especially the females. Older bucks have a dark longitudinal stripe along their back and a vertical stripe down each shoulder. Typical of the bezoar goat are the long, scimitar- like curved horns with a length of one metre round the curve. These horns are prominently knobbed on their front edge in the males; in the females the horns are regularly ribbed as in the ibex. The horns are compressed laterally and thus form a sharp anterior keel. Males have a beard below their chin as in all goats. On the Indian subcontinent, the bezoar goat is restricted to the hills and mountains of Baluchistan and the West Himalayas, and in the southern Kirthar Mountains of Pakistan, where it lives mainly above the tree line. Another wild goat of the subcontinent is the markhor (Capra falconeri; fi g. 202). It has the same size as a bezoar goat with a shoulder height of one metre or smaller. Typical of the markhor are its long hairs in winter time, a shaggy mane of long hairs below the throat falling from neck and shoulders to the fore knees and a very extensive black beard in males. The horns of the markhor are characteristically spiralled. The horns may twist into a tight or open spiral, with record lengths up to 1.65 m; the type of spiral depends upon the region of origin. There is no anterior keel on the horn of the markhor, contrary to the horns of the domestic and bezoar goats. Similarity in the shape of the horns is considered a parallel development. Markhors are found in the mountainous regions from eastern Turkmenistan till northern and central Pakistan and Kashmir. They live at medium to high eleva- tions around and above the tree line, but not as high as the ibex; this is because markhors have much less luxurious underwool. More distantly related to the ibex is the Nilgiri tahr or Nilgiri ibex (Hemitragus hylocrius). It is a goat-like bovid with a shoulder height of about 1.1 m and a heavy body, long and robust limbs and an elegant head with narrow, erect ears. The horns are very short, about 0.35 m, close-set, curving backwards and deeply wrinkled. The Nilgiri tahr has a short coat and no mane or beard, which distinguishes it from the ibex. The tahr bucks have a distinct whitish saddle patch on the loins. As the wild goats of the genus Capra, it is a social animal and lives in herds. When resting, one or more individuals (sentinels) keep alert and stay on watch. Once, the Nilgiri tahr was common on the precipitous high terrains from the Nilgiris to the Anaimalais and from there southwards along the Western Ghats. At present, their numbers are heavily reduced due to hunting.