About Ibex, A Mountain Goat Adept At Climbing Walls
About Ibex, A Mountain Goat Adept At Climbing Walls. Ibex is the name of a type of wild goat that can be recognized by its enormous horns like sickles. There are several animal species which are categorized as ibex.
About Ibex, A Mountain Goat Adept At Climbing Walls
In scientific classification, all species of ibex belong to the genus Capra. However, not all members of the Capra clan can be called ibex because this genus also includes wild goat species that are not the same as ibex, for example markhor, a type of mountain goat with long, winding horns.
Ibex can be distinguished from other types of goat by looking at the characteristic horns and the presence of black hair or hair along its back.
There are 8 species of goats that belong to the genus Capra. However, only 5 of them are classified as ibex. The five species of ibex are Alpine ibex, Nubian ibex, Spanish ibex, Siberian ibex, and Walia ibex.
Of the many species of ibex, the Siberian ibex is the largest species of ibex. The Siberian ibex is known to grow up to 1.6 meters long and weigh 100 kg.
While the Ibex Nubia is the smallest type of ibex because its maximum body length is only 1.2 meters with a maximum weight of 70 kg. In each ibex species, males are usually larger than females.
Because ibex consists of many species, ibex also has a wide range of habitats. They can be found from Europe to the Middle East, Siberia and northern Africa.
Although the habitat of Ibex is spread over various continents, these habitats have something in common with one another.
The ibex habitat is generally in the form of highlands and mountains. The Siberian ibex species can even be found at altitudes of more than 5,000 meters.
Ibex Videos
It has been mentioned in the first paragraph that the ibex has long, curved horns. Only male ibex has this appearance. The female ibex also has horns, but is shorter in size.
Male ibex horns are known to be up to 1.5 meters long. Apart from the size of the horns, the male ibex can be distinguished from the female by looking at the beard on the chin.
In contrast, the female ibex does not have a beard. The male ibex also has a larger size than the female. Ibex's body is covered with hair or brown hair.
About Ibex, A Mountain Goat Adept At Climbing Walls
The Nubian ibex species tend to be lighter in color because they live in the Middle East and northern Africa which are known for their hot, dry temperatures. Due to its pale color, ibex can use its fur to reflect sunlight so it doesn't get too hot.
Goats are like spider man
Like other goat species, ibex is a herbivorous animal, aka plant-eating. The ibex diet consists of leaves, fruit, and moss. Ibex can basically eat all day long, but they tend to be more active at night to be safer from their enemies.
When winter arrives, ibex also wants to eat plant branches even though the twigs are no longer leafy. The Ibex has a habit of migrating south whenever winter arrives because the snow is thinner and food is relatively easy to come by.
Ibex heart rate in winter is only about 40 beats per second aka 60% slower than in summer. In this way, ibex can survive even if the food he consumes in winter is less and does not have good nutritional content.
The Ibex is not only famous for its horns. This animal has an ability that makes it look like Spider-Man: climbing walls. In Italy, there is a large dam called Cingino which is located in the Alps, Italy.
This dam is very famous because the dam walls are often climbed by the local ibex herd. In fact, the height of the dam wall reaches almost 50 meters.
However, this ibex herd easily climbed the dam just by stepping on the rocks poking out of the dam wall.
Alpen Ibex itself climbs the Cingino Dam because it is attracted to eating moss and licking the salt rock that is tucked between the walls of the dam.
A little information, every animal needs a certain amount of salt intake so that its body cells can operate normally.
Humans meet their salt needs from the spices used in their food. In mammals such as ibex, they get salt from the mineral-based rocks in their habitat.
About Ibex, A Mountain Goat Adept At Climbing Walls
Back to the matter of ability to climb ibex. Ibex not only uses its spectacular abilities to climb man-made structures, but also to climb steep cliffs in its wild habitat.
The Alpine ibex species takes advantage of this ability to stay on top of cliffs during the day to keep it safe from predators. When night fell, then Ibex descended into the forest to find food.
Ibex climbed the walls and sheer cliffs by setting his feet on the rocks jutting out of the cliff sides. Besides being good at climbing, ibex can also jump up to 1.8 meters without having to jog first.
Thanks to this ability, if ibex can't find a stone that can be stepped on right next to it, ibex can jump to a rock some distance away from it.
Ibex's ability to climb cliffs is supported by the uniqueness of his legs. On each of the ibex feet, there are 2 toenails with sharp tips and a sunken bottom. The concave part of the ibex feet helps the ibex to grip uneven rock surfaces while climbing cliffs.
Nimble from birth
The ibex is a social animal that lives in groups. Each species of ibex has different herd behavior. In the Nubian ibex species, for example, only females and their children form groups, while males live alone.
In the Alpine ibex species, the group is divided into 2 types: a special group for young males and a special group for females and their chicks. In the Spanish ibex, a group of different genders is led by a senior male.
The ibex breeding season usually occurs towards the end of the year. When the mating season arrives, male ibexes become more aggressive and often fight other male ibexes to mate the females in one group.
A fight between ibex occurs when a pair of male ibex pushes their opponent's horns against each other. The fight ends when one of the males gives up and retreats. The winner of the fight will then marry all the women in the group that was previously contested.
Mating between male and female ibex lasts about half an hour. Married females will then enter a gestation period of 5 to 6 months.
The female ibex contains only one baby. Newborn ibex babies can climb rock climbing skillfully at 2 days of age. Depending on the species, ibex babies will drink their mother's milk until they are between 3 months and 1 year old.
About Ibex, A Mountain Goat Adept At Climbing Walls
Ibex also has sexual maturity that varies between species. Most species of ibex only experience sexual maturity at 2 years (female) or 5 years (male), but the Alpine ibex species are known to have experienced sexual maturity at 10 months of age.
Even so, Alpine ibex usually will only get married at the age of 3 years. In the catch, an ibex can live to be over 20 years.
Ibex has many enemies in its wild habitat. Carnivorous animals such as wolves, leopards, bears, lynx, fur cats and hyenas are known to prey on ibex.
Young and small Ibexs are also vulnerable to being attacked by golden eagles. If ibex sees the presence of his enemy, ibex will immediately let out a loud whistling sound so that the other ibex will immediately escape to the top of the cliff.
Ibexs are also hunted by humans for their meat and skins, and are used as target animals in hunting sports.
Especially for ibex that lives in the Alps, ibex is also hunted because the inhabitants of Europe in the past believed that ibex has blood and horns that are efficacious to treat disease.
As a result, the Alpine ibex was nearly extinct in the 17th century due to over-hunting. Fortunately, the Alpine ibex population has since gradually recovered. By: Ochie
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