Rupicapra rupicapra

Description

The chamois is a sturdy, goat-like animals, about 4 feet long, 32 inches tall at the shoulder, and up to 90 pounds in weight. Females are smaller than males.

Chamois are a chestnut color but are lighter in the spring and summer. The under parts are pale and the rump is white at the tail. A dark brown band runs from each side of the muzzle to the ears and eyes. In the winter they grow long guard hairs over their dark brown under fur.

Both sexes have horns up to 10 inches long that rise directly above the head then hook sharply back at the tips; the horns of the female are slimmer.

A chamois is capable of leaping upwards 13 feet, and of making long jumps opf 25 feet. It is also extremely agile, able to move from one rocky crag to another without care and dashing across an almost sheer rock face. The hooves of the chamois are what make such feats possible. Cup-shaped depressions on the soles of the hooves give a firm hold on slippery rocks, and the points of the hooves, the "aft claws," grip the surface and help to prevent slipping on any but icy slopes. It also has remarkable sight and hearing.

Distribution and Habitat

The chamois is native to the mountain ranges of Southern Europe and Asia Minor, particularly the Cantabrian, Pyrenees, Alps, Appenines, Tatra, and the Carpathians, as well as in the Balkan Peninsula. It has also been introduced to the South Island of New Zealand. It lives in alpine and sub-alpine meadows above the timberline, from an altitude of 2,400 to 6,000 feet.

Social Habits

Adult males are generally solitary except during the breeding season, while females and young males live in groups which may grow into herds several hundred strong during the breeding season.

Reproduction

The rut begins in mid-October and lasts until December. The bucks compete for females, and the competition may lead to one of the bucks being mortally injured.

Kids are born after a gestation period of 170 days, usually in a shelter of grass and lichens. There is usually only one kid born at a time, but twins and triplets do occur. Kids are able to follow their mother almost immediately after they are born and rapidly improve their leaping ability within the first days of life. They get their first training in "mountaineering" by jumping on and off their mothers' backs. They are weaned after two to three months. Young males stay with the mother's group until they are two to three years old. Should the mother be killed, other chamois will care for her young.

Diet

The summer diet consists primarily of herbs and flowers, while the winter diet consists of lichens, mosses and young pine shoots. Chamois can go up to two weeks without food when the snow is too deep.

Scientific Classification

phylum Chordata
subphylum Vertebrata
class Mammalia
order Artiodactyla
family Bovidae
subfamily Caprinae
genus & species Rupicapra rupicapra

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