IBEX, the Alpine wild goat, Capra ibex. Formerly common in the Alps, the ibex is now confined to the Gran Paradiso range in the neighbourhood of Cogne, and to the Swiss National Park in the Engadine. It measures about 4 ft. in length and stands about 4oin. at the shoulder. In sum mer the short fur is ashy grey, but in winter this is concealed by long yellowish-brown hairs. The horns are long, curved backwards and ridged on the front surface. The forelegs are somewhat shorter than the hind-limbs. The agility of the ibex on its native mountains is astounding. It in habits the line of perpetual snow, descending at night to graze in the highest woods. The ibex is gregarious, living in small herds, but the old males are usually solitary. The female, after a period of gestation of 90 days, produces a single young one, which is at once able to follow her. The flesh resembles mutton, but with a flavour of game.
The name "ibex" has been extended to include allied species of which the Asiatic ibex (C. sibirica), ranging over Central Asia, is the finest and may possess horns 6oin. long. Other species, differing in the thickness of and ridges on the horns, occur in Arabia, Abyssinia, the Caucasus and the Pyrenees, and the name is also applied to the short-horned Indian Hemitragus hylocruis from the Nilgiris.