614 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



The same author states (1914, p. 322) that, although not abun- 

 dant, the Mediterranean Ibex does not seem so directly threatened 

 with extinction as that of the Pyrenees, nor as that of Gredos was a 

 few years ago. In the Sierra Morena, where it was becoming rare, 

 it is now under the protection of the Marquis del Merito. 



At present, while precise information is lacking, it is to be feared 

 that conditions of the past several years have not been, and those 

 of the near future will not be, at all favorable to the preservation 

 of the two remaining forms of Ibex in Spain. 



Alpine Ibex. Bouquet in des Alpes (Fr.) Steinbock (Ger.). 



Stambecco (It.) 



CAPRA IBEX Linnaeus 



[Capra] Ibex Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 68, 1758. ("In Wallesiae 



praeruptis inaccessis" = Alps of Valais, Switzerland.) 

 FIGS.: Fitzinger, Bilder-Atlas, Saugthiere, fig. 211, 1860; Royal Nat. Hist., 



vol. 2, pi. facing p. 247, 1894; Lydekker, 1901, pi. 3, fig. 9, and p. 165, fig. 39; 



Gourdon, 1908, pi. 1, fig. B; Martin, 1910, pi. 46; Colosi, 1933, pi. 2; 



Didier and Rode, 1935, p. 335, fig. 197. 



Formerly ranging through the Alps of Switzerland, France, Italy, 

 and Austria, this Ibex was gradually exterminated in all but a few 

 specially protected localities. What may be the original stock still 

 survives in the Gran Paradiso National Park in the Italian Alps, 

 and recently some colonies have been established in Switzerland 

 by reintroduction. Perhaps a small colony remains in Salzburg, 

 Austria. 



"Height about 32 to 34 inches. Horns inclining backwards in a 

 bold scimetar-like sweep, distinctly triangular in section, with the 

 front surface broad, flattened, and carrying a number of bold trans- 

 verse knots or knobs. Beard, which is confined to chin, moderate. 

 General colour dusky grey, darker on chin, upper portion of throat 

 and under-parts; blackish below and along anterior surface above, 

 this dark area not noticeably contrasted or sharply defined; tail 

 . . . blackish at tip. Fine horns measure from 30 to 44| inches 

 along front curve." (Lydekker, 1913c, vol. 1, p. 141.) 



Lydekker (1901, pp. 163-164) gives the following general account: 



Originally inhabiting all the higher Alps of the Tyrol, Savoy, and Switzer- 

 land, the ibex, after the wild ox and the bison, seems to have been one of the 

 first of the wild ruminants of continental Europe whose range and numbers 

 were seriously affected by human persecution. And, always excepting the 

 wild ox, it is actually the first which has become practically exterminated as a 

 wild animal. For ibex-shooting, save to a few fortunate individuals who re- 

 ceive special royal permission, has become a sport of the past; this handsome 

 and interesting animal being now represented only by a few small herds which, 

 under the protection of Government, survive in certain carefully-guarded 

 Alpine valleys on the Italian side of Monte Rosa. As might be expected, the 

 members of these herds appear to be of much smaller bodily dimensions than 



