How the king of the mountain was saved from extinction

this is the Magnificent Alpine Ibex Stout Mountain Goat that inhabits the steep slopes of many European mountains it's an iconic animal known for its impressive horns and its climbing seals it's also one of the few mammals that lives in the high altitudes well above the tree line where it is a keystone species playing an outsized role in the balance of its ecosystem however like many other species there was a time when it almost went extinct with their population dropping to less than 100 individuals in today's video we want to tell you about the fascinating history of this species and how it was narrowly saved from Extinction and to help bring this cell to life we connected with Patrick from Slovenia who has been a monsters member since 2018. he is a passionate wildlife photographer and all the images and video of the Ibex that you will see in this video today are the fruit of his hard work in the mountains over the last few years and in this video he will be taking us along to go find and film these amazing creatures before we get into all of that let me tell you a little bit more about this beautiful animal the Alpine Ibex or Capra evex is a species of wild goat that lives in the European Alps and a few other mountains it is one of the nine species in the Capra or goat genus among whom six are also called Ibex this species is easily recognizable by the long curved horns of the males which come in good use during mating season when males butt heads while competing for females they are grayish brown in color and have fur covering their whole bodies and in the summer they shed their thick heavier winter coat for a shorter one in terms of size and weights the males are considerably larger weighing up to 117 kilos whilst the females only reach about 32 kilos this means that the Ibex is one of the largest animals in the Alpine ecosystem which is one of the reasons why it is so important Ibex are social animals and they spend a lot of their time together foraging for food eating mostly grasses but also flowers leaves and Moss this grazing and browsing is one of the reasons they are a keystone species as they play a key role in spreading seeds all over the Alpine ecosystem allowing less competitive species to gain a foothold they also wallow and trample like other large herbivores creating micro habitats for reptiles and invertebrates in addition to that many other species also predate on them and depend on them for food with the adults being hunted by Wolves links and Bears and the young also by Foxes and Eagles and it is because of these predators that they have evolved to retreat to Steep and rough mountainous terrain I'm sure many of you have come across this remarkable footage of Ibex looking for salt while climbing the extremely steep chinjinodan in piamonte in Italy this is only made possible by their sharp edged Hooves with concaved undersides which provide them just enough support to stick to the wall much like a climbing shoe does for a climber and it is on the steep slopes hype in the mountains that one should go looking for them so let's get started the plan now is to start hiking up the mountains which is going to take us between two and three hours then we will start looking for Ibex as they can be anywhere they are really good at finding some steep and unaccessible spots where they can feed and rest luckily I am joined by my father alesh who will help me on a today's adventure he is very skilled at finding wild animals which is always a challenge but especially today as Ibex can hide anywhere Patrick and his dad set off during the night so that they can get high enough in good time for the nice light of dawn which is ideal for filming finding the Ibex is also no easy task not only do they have to hike for hours up a steep Mountain but they also have to carry all their Gear with them which includes heavy tripods cameras and microphones so this Hike's probably going to take a while so let's start by looking at the history of the Ibex and also what led to their decline the exact historic range of the Alpine Ibex is not certain but from fossils we know that from around 10 000 BC the Alpine Ibex disappeared from the Japanese the Balkans the carpathians the generic Alps and the tetras probably due to hunting pressure as their name suggests their core population remained in the Alps and also some of the surrounding mountains in Slovenia where Patrick is filming them there was a folk Legend of an ibex named zlatarog or goldhorn in English who reigned over Mount triglav his horns were golden and were said to be the key to a treasure hidden under the mountain this still shows you how desired they were and it was hunting that led to their downfall they were hunted for their meat of course but also for other body parts used in folk remedies their horns were in particular high demand as they were believed to be the cure for impotence this is unfortunately a misconception that affects many species and lives on to this day in many countries in Asia the species was hunted down so fiercely that by the early 1800s less than 100 Ibex remained this steep decline had its impact in the ecosystem changing the natural grazing patterns which impacted plant life and also the food availability for predator populations then just in time in 1821 Charles Felix the Duke of Savoy and king of Sardinia banned the hunting of Alpine Ibex all across his kingdom and Grand Paradiso possibly saving the species from Extinction the Ibex disappeared from everywhere else apart from this small population but it endured and increased later on Ibex were smuggled into Switzerland and by 1911 they were officially reintroduced to the Swiss Alps where they still are today at the reintroductions did not fare so well though for one attempt in the Tetra mountains of Slovakia a mistake was made by not only using Alpine Ibex but also Anatolian Ibex Capra I gagrus and Nubian Ibex Capra nubiana which at the time were considered subspecies of Capra Ibex the result was that these warm adapted varieties produced hybrids which were born at the coldest time of the year leading to the extinction of the entire population then there was another project in the Romanian carpathians which failed when bears got in the Ibex pen and killed most of them nevertheless the species rebounded and from this Italian core it spread across the Alps with successful reintroductions to extend its range to places like Slovenia where Patrick is filming them right now today there are about 53 000 of them and they're poised to play a key role in many future projects so their prospects are bright now before I show you what Patrick found and the filming of the Ibex I want to tell you a bit more about our work at this point I would normally create a small segment to tell you about our rewilding projects and the membership that funds them but this time we have Patrick one of our oldest members who can tell you all about it I've been a moss the Earth member since 2018. for me this is a great way to support a good cause and do something good for the nature I'm very interested in topics such as nature rewilding and sustainability so the Mozzy Earth membership is perfect for me what I like the most about Mozzy Earth is how genuinely passionate the team members are about preserving and rewilding nature they do their best to make as much positive impact as they can with available resources we do all kinds of work ranging from the restoration of cow forests in the bottom of the sea all the way to planting trees in places like Iceland or the Carpathian Mountains and even reintroducing keystone species like waterfalls in the UK we have a Discord where you can chat with a team to ask any questions and an app where you can see your impact this here is a snapshot of Patrick's account and here you can see all the projects his membership has funded members also get to approve of our work through voting on various questions on a quarterly basis I think it's really fun but above all impactful and would love to have you there you can learn more about our work at mossy.earth there will be a link in the description and in a pinned comment below now let's get back to our story so we are finally in range the sun is coming up and it's the perfect time for Patrick and his dad to set up their gear and get ready to film the Alpine ibex it's not every day you get to see these beautiful creatures when seeing them in their natural habitat it's hard not to think of the tales of goldhorn and understand how this creature became such an icon in the region truly majestic animal we are so happy to collaborate with Patrick on this video and look forward to all the videos he will be making in his new YouTube channel about Wildlife photography I know he films many interesting species that are not yet on his channel and I'm sure over the years he's going to tell many interesting stories but for now from the few videos that he has uploaded I can really recommend you watch the one about the Osprey I thought it was really cool to see the process by which Patrick got those photos which he happened to show to me on a call before so his channel is Patrick in nature the link will also be in the description below the story of the Ibex is one of survival Against All Odds and a clear example of why it is crucial to save a species from extinction because even if the population is a bit inbred the Ibex is now once more able to stand proud in the mountains and to help shape those ecosystems that it has shaped for Millennia and to me that is simply amazing until next time cheers

Channel: Mossy Earth

Views: 163,329

Keywords: ibex, alpine ibex, alpine ibex mountain goats fall, alpine ibex fight, alpine ibex fall, alpine ibex mountain goats, alpine ibex mating, alpine ibex sound, alpine ibex documentary, rewilding europe, Slovenian alps, return of the ibex, ibex animal, ibex population, ibex dam, ibex dam italy, Mossy Earth, Patrik In Nature, Reforestation, Rewilding, mountain goats, the incredible ibex

Id: WP-TjAWKQ80

Length: 9min 3sec (543 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 19 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/zek_997]

Another gem from Mossy Earth