In form and build, the ibex represents the very perfection of combined power and action—if physical adaptation counts in the struggle for the "survival of the fittest," the wild goat need hardly fear extinction. His thickset frame, broad front, and prominent eyes, with well-poised neck, clean quarters, and the light muscular legs set well within his short round barrel, all bespeak qualities which admirably adapt him to the hard, strange life assigned by nature to the wild-goat.
During the summer months, the ibex feast luxuriously on the abundant crop of mountain-grasses, flowering shrubs and rush, which at that season clothe the Alpine solitudes; and, later, on the various berries and wild fruits of the hills. By autumn they are in their highest condition—the long black beards of the old rams fully developed, and their brown coats long, glossy, and almost uniform in colour. At this period the rutting season takes place—in October; and the machos fight furiously for the assembled harems—rearing on hind legs for a charge, the crash of opposing horns resounds afar across the glens and corries of the sierra. Even in spring their combative instinct survives; we have watched, in April, a pair of veterans sparring at each other for an hour together.
The young ibex are born in April, and soon learn to follow their dams—graceful little creatures, like brown lambs, easily captured if the mother is shot, but not otherwise. One is the usual number, but two is not infrequent. It is a curious fact that the kid remains with its dam upwards of a year—that is, till after a second family has been born. Consequently it is usual, in spring, to see the females in trios—the mother, her yearling daughter, called the chivata, and the new-born kid, or chivo. Though, as just stated, there are often two young, yet we have never seen more than one chivata with each female ibex—possibly it is only the female kids that remain so long with their dams. In May the chivatas are conspicuously smaller than the adult females, but their horns are nearly as large.
At this season (April-May) the ibex are changing their coats; the males have almost entirely lost their flowing beards, and in colour assume a hoary, piebald appearance, especially on cheeks and forequarters, contrasting with the darker portions above and behind. The muzzle is warm cream-colour, and the lower part of the leg (below the knee) prettily marked with black and white; on the knee, a callosity, or round patch of bare hard skin. The horns of yearling males are larger and heavier than those of adult females.
Though it is the custom of the hill-shepherds during summer to drive out their herds of goats to pasture on the higher ranges of the sierra, where they must sometimes come in contact with their wild congeners, yet no inter-breeding takes place; nor can the race of wild ibex be reduced to domesticity. The hunters frequently capture the young ibex—it is sometimes given as an excuse for killing the dam—yet they rarely survive long in captivity, and never mate with the domestic goat. In May we could not hear of a single wild kid of the previous year's capture that had survived the twelvemonth in any of the hill-villages of Gredos. The form of the horns in the domestic goat is essentially different; they are much flatter, thinner, and not a quarter as large as those of the wild ibex. The latter can hardly have been the progenitor of the race of goats now domesticated in Spain.
The smell of a dead ibex is specially strong and unpleasant—an old male stinks far worse than a vulture; yet little or no trace of this remains after cooking. Their flesh is firm and brown, fairly good eating, but without any special flavour or individuality—that is, when subjected to the rude cookery of the camp.
