The Mountain Goat (Ibex)

                      The Mountain Goat

Diet

All Ibexes of the world are herbivores which means they don't eat meat, only plants. Ibexes only eat vegetation such as bushes, grasses, and shrubs. Due to the low nutrients food that the Ibexes eat in the high mountain areas, they spend most of their day eating. Ibexes can climb down to the lower branches of trees to eat the leaves off the branch. Since Ibexes avoid the snow, so they may come down from where they are to find food. Herds make sure that there is plenty of water where they are. For example, they try to walk near rivers, streams, or lakes.

Life Cycle/ Reproduction

The breeding season for Ibexes is in late fall (around late November to early December) to early winter (middle of December). When it's breeding season, males will leave their herd to find females. To determine which male can breed with the females. Males will rarely get seriously injured in those fights. The pregnancy of an Ibex is six months. After the six months, the young are born, they are born around May. Female Ibexes usually give birth to one single Ibex. Twenty percent of females give birth to twins, and it is rare for a female to give birth to triplets. Kids reach their adult age at eighteen months (one and a half) old. Kids stay with their mothers for about one year.

Habitat

Ibexes only live in high mountain regions and high cliffs. Since Ibexes live in the mountain regions there are not many predators up there. the Walia Ibex lives in the highest mountains of the Ethiopian highlands, at an elevation of up to 14,800. The Nubian Ibex is found near the hills around the Red Sea and the Egyptian Highlands. The alpine species is found mainly in the European Alps. The Spanish Ibex lives mainly in the Pyrenees, on the Iberian Peninsula in Spain. The Pyrenean Ibex is a subspecies of the Iberian species. The Pyrenean Ibex became extinct by the early 2000s. The Siberian Ibex is found in Afghanistan all the way to Mongolia. All the species of Ibex are found in high elevation, as high as 5,300 meters ( around 2,000 feet).

Appearance

Ibexes have either a brown or a gray coat. Ibexes have different types of coats depending on the species of Ibex. For example, the Nubian species have shiny coats that reflect the sun, making them cool in the summer. Adult male Ibexes can weigh around 220 pounds. They can stand about three feet. On the other hand, females are four inches shorter than males and weigh 110 pounds, half the male's weight. Males have long horns that curl over their heads. To know if an Ibex is a male or female, males have beards and females don't.