Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Capra sibir­ica is con­cen­trated in mul­ti­ple moun­tain ranges through­out cen­tral Asia, as far north as south­ern Siberia. There are mul­ti­ple, dis­tinct pop­u­la­tions in Mon­go­lia and China, and through­out the cen­tral Asian ranges to Afghanistan and Pak­istan.

• Biogeographic Regions
• palearctic
  • native

Habi­tat

Through­out its range, C. sibir­ica in­hab­its rocky moun­tain zones, es­pe­cially those con­tain­ing steep slopes (Hep­t­ner et al. 1988) The el­e­va­tion in­hab­ited by C. sibir­ica can range greatly due to sea­sonal weather con­di­tions. There is also a large el­e­va­tion dif­fer­ence be­tween the moun­tain ranges they oc­cupy. They in­habit moun­tain ranges from 500 m to over 5000 m above sea level (Hep­t­ner et al. 1988). (Hep­t­ner, et al., 1988)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• mountains

• Range elevation

  500 to >5000 m

  1640.42 to ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Body length of a ma­ture male Siber­ian ibex can range from 130 to 165 cm, with a fe­male max­i­mum length av­er­ag­ing slightly longer than 135 cm. Height at the with­ers is 80 to 100 cm in males. Chest cir­cum­fer­ence ranges from 92 to 125 cm in males, and 74 to 89 cm in fe­males. Ear and tail lengths are sim­i­lar be­tween sexes, with ear length from 14 to 16 cm and tail length from 10 to 18 cm. Mass is 80 to 100 kg in males and 30 to 40 kg in fe­males (Hep­t­ner et al., 1988). (Hep­t­ner, et al., 1988)

Capra sibir­ica is the largest mem­ber of the genus Capra. They are stout and thick, with short necks and large rib cages (Hep­t­ner et al. 1988). Sex­ual di­mor­phism is pro­nounced within Siber­ian ibexes. This is ev­i­dent in sea­sonal pelage, body size, weight, and horn di­men­sions. (Hep­t­ner, et al., 1988)

The bow-shaped horns of C. sibir­ica are also the largest within the genus. The horns of males mea­sure 100 to 148 cm (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). The max­i­mum length of fe­male horns is 37 to 38 cm (Hep­t­ner et al. 1988). Horns of fe­males are also much thin­ner than those of males. Sim­i­lar to other ibexes, the an­te­rior sur­face of Siber­ian ibex horns are seg­mented by trans­verse ridges. (Fe­dosenko and Blank, 2001; Hep­t­ner, et al., 1988)

Sig­nif­i­cant vari­a­tion in pelage color is one rea­son that C. sibir­ica has be given more names than any other an­i­mal in the genus (Hep­t­ner et al. 1988). Color vari­a­tion can be at­trib­uted to size, age, sex, sea­son, and spe­cific range. (Hep­t­ner, et al., 1988)

Siber­ian ibexes share many com­mon pelage char­ac­ter­is­tics with other mem­bers of Capra, such as light ab­domens and a dark stripe run­ning along the back, from the neck to the tail (Schaller 1977). Siber­ian ibexes have light yel­low­ish un­der­sides, be­com­ing lighter around the groin (Hep­t­ner et al. 1988). They have darker brown patches that can be found on parts of their head, shoul­ders, legs, chest, beard, and flanks (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001, Hep­t­ner et al. 1988). The darker brown patches can vary greatly or even be ab­sent on cer­tain in­di­vid­u­als com­pletely. (Fe­dosenko and Blank, 2001; Hep­t­ner, et al., 1988; Schaller, 1977)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger
• sexes colored or patterned differently
• ornamentation

• Range mass

  30 to 100 kg

  66.08 to 220.26 lb

• Range length

  130 to 165 cm

  51.18 to 64.96 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

A breed­ing hi­er­ar­chy be­tween male Siber­ian ibexes is often es­tab­lished through fight­ing. Mul­ti­ple ag­gres­sive tac­tics are used, in­clud­ing clashes of horns, with both males ei­ther fac­ing each other or stand­ing next to one an­other (Schaller 1977). Ac­cord­ing to Hep­t­ner et al. (1988), mor­tal­ity is rare dur­ing such fights. (Hep­t­ner, et al., 1988; Schaller, 1977)

Male Siber­ian ibexes begin court­ing fe­males by ap­proach­ing with a low-stretch pose (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). Males then sniff and lick the fe­male be­fore let­ting out a low scream, which causes the fe­male to run away from the male (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). This can re­sult in the fe­male hit­ting the male with her horns, or uri­nat­ing, which pro­vokes the male to per­form flehmen (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). Ac­cord­ing to Fe­dosenko and Blank (2001), this courtship be­hav­ior lasts over 30 min­utes. A pair must sep­a­rate them­selves from other an­i­mals for suc­cess­ful cop­u­la­tion to occur be­cause of the heavy com­pe­ti­tion be­tween males for ac­cess to fe­males (Baskin and Danell 2003). (Baskin and Danell, 2003; Fe­dosenko and Blank, 2001)

• Mating System
• polygynous

The tim­ing of mat­ing sea­sons for C. sibir­ica varies be­tween moun­tain ranges and is sig­nif­i­cantly af­fected by weather con­di­tions. The mat­ing sea­son (rut) can start in Oc­to­ber and ex­tend into Jan­u­ary, due to dif­fer­ences be­tween ranges and weather con­di­tions. Ac­cord­ing to Fe­dosenko and Blank (2001), es­trus lasts 20 days and an oc­ca­sional sec­ond es­trus can ex­tend the du­ra­tion of the rut. (Fe­dosenko and Blank, 2001)

The rut gen­er­ally starts when ma­ture males mi­grate down in el­e­va­tion to join fe­male groups. Males gen­er­ally don’t breed until they are five years old, when they can be com­pet­i­tive against other males. Fe­males can breed as early as their sec­ond year (Hep­t­ner et al. 1988). Ma­ture males will es­tab­lish and guard harems of five to fif­teen fe­males (Hep­t­ner et al. 1988). (Hep­t­ner, et al., 1988)

Ges­ta­tion lasts 170 to 180 days, com­monly re­sult­ing in the birth of one kid (Hep­t­ner et al. 1988). In one study, only two of 56 preg­nant, cap­tured fe­males bore twins (Hep­t­ner et al. 1988). Though young Siber­ian ibexes can graze like adults within 1.5 months of birth, they have been known to suckle into De­cem­ber (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). De­pend­ing on when kids are weaned, they can suckle for the first five to eight months of life. (Fe­dosenko and Blank, 2001; Hep­t­ner, et al., 1988)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
• viviparous

• Breeding interval

  Siberian ibexes breed once yearly.

• Breeding season

  Mating generally occurs around November.

• Range number of offspring

  1 to 2

• Average number of offspring

  1

• Range gestation period

  5.67 to 6 months

• Range weaning age

  5 to 8 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  2 years

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  5 (high) years

Fe­male Siber­ian ibexes leave their groups and year­lings for around a week be­fore and after par­tu­ri­tion and give birth in soli­tude (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). After birth the mother licks the neonate clean. A few days fol­low­ing birth, the new­born is often left alone to hide from preda­tors. This length of time can vary de­pend­ing on the abil­ity of the young to han­dle the ter­rain (Schaller 1977). (Fe­dosenko and Blank, 2001; Schaller, 1977)

Young Siber­ian ibexes gen­er­ally stay close to their moth­ers for pro­tec­tion, and bleat at signs of dan­ger. Fe­dosenko and Blank (2001) re­port that young Siber­ian ibex may run to the clos­est adult fe­males for pro­tec­tion in the pres­ence of dan­ger. Suck­ling de­creases each month after birth, and can ex­tend into De­cem­ber, though young con­tinue to live with their moth­ers through the fol­low­ing year (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). (Fe­dosenko and Blank, 2001)

• Parental Investment
• altricial
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• post-independence association with parents

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Male Siber­ian ibexes can live up to 15 years, and fe­males up to 17 years in the wild, though males gen­er­ally live for eight to ten years (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). A fe­male Siber­ian ibex has been re­ported to live over 22 years in cap­tiv­ity in a Lon­don Zoo (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). (Fe­dosenko and Blank, 2001)

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  17 (high) years

• Range lifespan
  Status: captivity

  >22 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  22.3 years

  AnAge

Be­hav­ior

Siber­ian ibexes are gen­er­ally found in herds. Herd sizes are often di­rectly re­lated to pop­u­la­tion size (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). The sex ratio of herds dif­fers through­out the year. Fe­males, year­lings, and young males com­monly make up herds. Adult males can be found in small herds to­gether. Adult males have also been known to live in soli­tude when not in rut. Larger herds, con­sist­ing of up to 40 in­di­vid­u­als, can con­tain an­i­mals of all dif­fer­ent ages and both sexes (Hep­t­ner et al. 1988). (Fe­dosenko and Blank, 2001; Hep­t­ner, et al., 1988)

Mi­gra­tion through­out the range of C. sibir­ica is as­so­ci­ated with snow ac­cu­mu­la­tion in au­tumn. This is due to lim­ited ac­cess to food dur­ing times of high snow lev­els. Siber­ian ibexes can mi­grate over 100 km be­tween sea­sons, while also chang­ing up to 2000 m in el­e­va­tion (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). They reach food cov­ered by 30 to 40 cm of snow by dig­ging with their hooves (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). (Fe­dosenko and Blank, 2001)

• Key Behaviors
• cursorial
• diurnal
• motile
• migratory
• social
• dominance hierarchies

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Siber­ian ibexes gen­er­ally com­mu­ni­cate for mat­ing, preda­tor alarm, and recog­ni­tion. Fe­males rec­og­nize their new­born through its scent dur­ing the first few days after birth, and rely on sight shortly there­after (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). Fe­males also call their young for feed­ing. Com­mu­ni­ca­tion dur­ing the rut often in­cludes phys­i­cal pos­tur­ing in which males per­form flehmen. Flehmen be­hav­ior can be seen to some de­gree in many dif­fer­ent mam­malian or­ders (Eisen­berg and Kleiman 1972). It is a com­mon re­sponse dis­played by males in re­sponse to fe­male urine dur­ing the rut. Flehmen is gen­er­ally ini­ti­ated by a raise and curl of the upper lip, along with shut­ting the ex­ter­nal nares (Kev­erne 1999). This al­lows ac­cess to the vomeronasal organ (VNO), which aids in chemore­cep­tion and de­ter­mi­na­tion of fe­male es­trus con­di­tion (Kev­erne 1999). (Eisen­berg and Kleiman, 1972; Fe­dosenko and Blank, 2001; Kev­erne, 1999)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• pheromones
• scent marks

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Siber­ian ibexes are gen­er­ally di­ur­nal her­bi­vores. They feed noc­tur­nally and eat some fruits, such as dogrose (Rosa) and cur­rants (Ribes hispidu­lum) (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001, Hep­t­ner et al. 1988). Daily ac­tiv­ity is dom­i­nated by feed­ing and rest­ing or ru­mi­nat­ing. The amount of time for each varies with sea­son. Dur­ing sea­sons marked with shorter day­light hours, Siber­ian ibexes spend a greater part of the day feed­ing than rest­ing (Hep­t­ner et al 1988). The amount of green food in­take varies be­tween sexes, with males eat­ing up 16 kg a day and fe­males 8 to 10 kg (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). (Fe­dosenko and Blank, 2001; Hep­t­ner, et al., 1988)

Around 140 dif­fer­ent plant species are known to be con­sumed by C. sibir­ica (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). The species of plants they con­sume can dif­fer through­out their range and with sea­sonal avail­abil­ity. Green grasses (Re­ogne­ria) are a sig­nif­i­cant part of the Siber­ian ibex diet in the spring and sum­mer, along with grasses, shoots, stems, and leaves, which are eaten in au­tumn (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). Siber­ian ibexes favor south-fac­ing slopes in win­ter be­cause de­creased snow depth leaves food more ac­ces­si­ble. Nee­dles and buds of trees are com­mon food dur­ing the win­ter be­cause of ac­ces­si­bil­ity above the snow. De­pend­ing on the amount of water re­ceived through food, Siber­ian ibexes can go mul­ti­ple days with­out water, and fre­quent salt licks through­out the year (Hep­t­ner et al. 1988). (Fe­dosenko and Blank, 2001; Hep­t­ner, et al., 1988)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • folivore

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• wood, bark, or stems
• fruit
• flowers
• lichens

Pre­da­tion

Young Siber­ian ibexes can emit a bleat to sig­nal dan­ger, while adults give off a whis­tle. Though Siber­ian ibexs vo­cally sig­nal to each other when a preda­tor is near, their best weapon against pre­da­tion is their abil­ity to ma­neu­ver on steep, rocky ter­rain. The pres­ence of a cal­lus on the carpal joint aids in the abil­ity of Siber­ian ibex to move up steep rocky slopes (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). They also have soft, elas­tic pads on their hooves, sur­rounded by a hard horny ma­te­r­ial, which in­creases trac­tion (Hep­t­ner et al. 1988, Schaller 1977). Siber­ian ibexes main­tain close prox­im­ity to es­cape ter­rain. It was found by Fox et al. (1992) that the Siber­ian ibexes al­ways stayed within 350 m of es­cape ter­rain. (Fe­dosenko and Blank, 2001; Fox, et al., 1992; Hep­t­ner, et al., 1988; Schaller, 1977)

Hid­ing is the pri­mary de­fense against preda­tors dur­ing the first few days of a kid’s life. Siber­ian ibex kids can be preyed upon by golden ea­gles (Aquila chrysae­tos), and hid­ing or stay­ing close to adult an­i­mals are the main de­fense tac­tics. Snow leop­ards (Uncia uncia) prey on Siber­ian ibex more than any other preda­tor (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). Snow leop­ards often take ma­ture male Siber­ian ibexes be­cause of their poor post-rut con­di­tion. Lynx (Lynx lynx), brown bears (Ursus arc­tos), and wolves (Canis lupus) also prey on C. sibir­ica. Wolves are able to kill Siber­ian ibexes by stop­ping them be­fore they reach their es­cape ter­rain (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). (Fe­dosenko and Blank, 2001)

• Known Predators

  • snow leopards (Uncia uncia)
  • Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx)
  • golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos)
  • brown bears (Ursus arctos)
  • Asiatic wild dogs (Cuon alpinus)
  • red foxes (Vulpes vulpes)
  • wolverines (Gulo gulo)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Siber­ian ibexes can be a sig­nif­i­cant prey item for many species. Fe­dosenko and Blank (2001) found the re­mains of 30 Siber­ian ibexes over the course of a sin­gle snow leop­ard’s 14 km hunt. Snow leop­ards are the most com­mon preda­tor of Capra sibir­ica. (Fe­dosenko and Blank, 2001)

Siber­ian ibexes host many dif­fer­ent species of ec­topar­a­sites and en­dopar­a­sites. The pres­ence of ec­topar­a­sites on Siber­ian ibexes cre­ates a sym­bi­otic re­la­tion with mag­pies (Pica pica), and other birds (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). These birds ben­e­fit from food that is sup­ported on the body of Siber­ian ibex, while Siber­ian ibexes ben­e­fit from being groomed (Fe­dosenko and Blank 2001). (Fe­dosenko and Blank, 2001)

Through­out their dis­tri­b­u­tion, Siber­ian ibexes browse and graze, im­pact­ing veg­e­ta­tion com­mu­ni­ties. They pose lit­tle com­pe­ti­tion to other un­gu­lates that oc­cupy the same moun­tain ranges be­cause range over­lap is in­fre­quent.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Capra sibir­ica is mostly sought after by hu­mans for its meat. The hides are used for a num­ber of cloth­ing items. Siber­ian ibex are also hunted for tro­phy pur­poses be­cause of their large horns.

• Positive Impacts
• food
• body parts are source of valuable material

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Siber­ian ibexes pose lit­tle threat to hu­mans, though they have been known to com­pete with do­mes­tic an­i­mals for food.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Ac­cord­ing to IUCN/SSC, Siber­ian ibex pop­u­la­tions are greater than 250,000 an­i­mals, and are con­sid­ered to be at low risk on the 1996 IUCN Red List (Shack­le­ton 1997). Con­sid­er­ing the Siber­ian ibex at low risk can be de­cep­tive be­cause the rate of habi­tat loss to live­stock is in­creas­ing and habi­tats are be­com­ing more eas­ily ac­ces­si­ble via mo­tor­ized ve­hi­cles, in­creas­ing poach­ing (Shack­le­ton 1997). Strin­gent hunt­ing reg­u­la­tions and pro­tected areas have been de­vel­oped through­out the Siber­ian ibex range to pro­tect pop­u­la­tions. (Schaller, 1977)

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

Other Com­ments

Many un­gu­lates use scent-uri­na­tion around the time of the rut to com­mu­ni­cate (Coblentz 1976). Ac­cord­ing to Fe­dosenko and Blank (2001), male Siber­ian ibexes use their mouths to mas­tur­bate dur­ing the rut. This is a com­mon be­hav­ior for males in the genus Capra (Schaller 1977). There is con­tro­versy over whether or not the males are ac­tu­ally mas­tur­bat­ing (ejac­u­lat­ing semen) or sim­ply re­leas­ing urine when dis­play­ing this be­hav­ioral char­ac­ter­is­tic. Based on hun­dreds of ob­ser­va­tions of feral goats, Coblentz (1976) be­lieves that what is com­monly per­ceived as mas­tur­ba­tion in these an­i­mals is ac­tu­ally uri­na­tion due to the pres­sure, color, and amount of fluid ex­it­ing the penis. (Coblentz, 1976; Fe­dosenko and Blank, 2001; Schaller, 1977)

Con­trib­u­tors

Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Jef­frey Williams (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Alaska Fair­banks, Link E. Olson (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Alaska Fair­banks.

Ref­er­ences

Baskin, L., K. Danell. 2003. Ecol­ogy of Un­gu­lates: a hand­book of specier in East­ern Eu­rope and North­ern and Cen­tral Asia. Ger­many: Springer-Ver­lag Berlin Hei­del­berg.

Coblentz, B. 1976. Func­tions of Scent-Uri­na­tion in Un­gu­lates with Spe­cial Ref­er­ence to Feral Goats (Capra hir­cus L.). The Amer­i­can Nat­u­ral­ist, 110/974: 549-557.

Eisen­berg, J., D. Kleiman. 1972. Ol­fac­tory Com­mu­ni­ca­tion in Mam­mals. An­nual Re­view of Ecol­ogy and Sys­tem­at­ics, 3: 1-32.

Fe­dosenko, A., D. Blank. 2001. Capra sibir­ica. Amer­i­can So­ci­ety of Mam­mal­o­gists, 675: 1-13.

Fox, J., S. Sinha, R. Chun­dawat. 1992. Ac­tiv­ity Pat­terns and Habi­tat Use of Ibex in the Hi­malaya Moun­tains of India. Jour­nal of Mam­mal­ogy, 73/3: 527-534.

Hep­t­ner, V., A. Nasi­movich, A. Ban­nikov. 1988. Mam­mals of the So­viet Union. Ar­tio­dactyla and Peris­so­dactyla. Wash­ing­ton D.C.: Smith­son­ian In­sti­tu­tion LI­braries and The Na­tional Sci­ence Foun­da­tion.

Kev­erne, E. 1999. The Vomeronasal Organ. Sci­ence, 286/5440: 716-720.

Schaller, G. 1977. Moun­tain Mon­archs. Chicago and Lon­don: Uni­ver­sity of Chicago Press.

Shack­le­ton, D. 1997. Wild Sheep and Goats and their Rel­a­tives. Gland, Switzer­land and Cam­bridge, UK: IUCN.