The ibex, one of the most stately mammals in the Hohe Tauern, is a true member of the goat family and can breed successfully with domestic goats. With its stocky, muscular figure it boasts snout-vent length of 150 cm and stands 90 cm high at the shoulder. The nannies weigh only about 45 kg, while bucks can weigh more than 100 kg. The buck has mighty horns curved backwards and measuring up to 1 m in length, while the nannies have short, barely curved horns. Thanks to its deeply forked hooves with rubbery balls of the toes, ibex are great climbers and jumpers. The nannies with the young animals and the bucks live in separate herds. Only the old bucks become solitary animals. At breeding time (December/January) the bucks call on the females and try to win control of the herd. At this time, competing bucks often start fights with each other. Ibex can live to more than 20 years.
Ibex
