Chamois

Rupicapra rupicapra

The chamois, Rupicapra rupicapra, is a small mountain ungulate of Europe and parts of western Asia, closely related to goats and sheep but adapted to steep alpine and subalpine terrain. Both sexes carry slender black horns with hooked tips. The coat is usually brown to chestnut in summer and darker in winter, with a pale face marked by dark cheek stripes. Chamois live in the Alps, Carpathians, Balkans, and nearby ranges, and introduced populations also occur in places such as New Zealand.

Chamois are wild animals rather than domestic goats, so human involvement is mainly through reserve management, regulated hunting, research, and occasional zoo care. Field teams monitor population size, winter survival, habitat pressure, and diseases such as sarcoptic mange. In managed collections they need secure rocky enclosures, room to climb, compatible social grouping, and browsing or grazing diets that do not make them overweight. Conservation planning may account for local subspecies and the effects of tourism, forestry, and climate on mountain habitat.