Pyrenean chamois

The Pyrenean chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica) is a goat-antelope that lives in the Pyrenees and Cantabrian Mountains of Spain, France and Andorra, and the Apennine Mountains of central Italy. It is one of the two species of the genus Rupicapra, the other being the chamois, Rupicapra rupicapra.^[1]

Pyrenean chamois
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Bovidae
Subfamily:	Caprinae
Tribe:	Caprini
Genus:	Rupicapra
Species:	R. pyrenaica
Binomial name
Rupicapra pyrenaica (Bonaparte, 1845)
Distribution of Pyrenean chamois

Names

• Aragonese: sarrio, chizardo
• Asturian: robecu/robezu
• Basque: pirinioetako sarrioa
• Catalan: isard
• French: izard/isard
• Galician: rebezo
• Italian: camoscio dei Pirenei, camoscio appenninico
• Occitan: isard, sarri
• Spanish: rebeco, gamuza

Subspecies

Image	Subspecies	Distribution
	R. p. pyrenaica (Pyrenean chamois)	Andorra, France and Spain
	R. p. parva (Cantabrian chamois)	Spain
	R. p. ornata (Abruzzo chamois)	Central and southern Italy

Description

Up to 80 cm tall, its summer coat is a ruddy brown; in winter, it is black or brown, with darker patches around the eyes. Both males and females have backward-hooked horns up to 20 cm in length. They browse on grass, lichens and buds of trees. Sure-footed and agile, they are found on any elevation up to 3000 m.

Conservation

Like other species of chamois, it was hunted almost to extinction, especially in the 1940s, for the production of chamois leather. The population has since recovered, and in 2022 was estimated to be about 50,000 mature individuals.^[2][1]