Portuguese Ibex
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| Capra pyrenaica lusitanica (Schlegel, 1872) |
The Portuguese Ibex Capra pyrenaica lusitanica (an extinct subspecies of Spanish Ibex) was a species of mountain goat that inhabited the north mountainous zones of Portugal, Galicia, Asturias and western Cantabria. In size and colouration it was much like the Spanish animals, though inclining towards brown rather than black markings. Its horns were strikingly different from any of the other Iberian subspecies. They were only half the length of the Pyrenean Ibex (about 51 cm or 20"), but were almost twice as wide and, consequently, much closer together at their base.
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[edit] Extinction
Until 1800 the Portuguese Ibex was widespread in its range, but thereafter its decline was rapid as hunting pressure increased. Local hunters did not respect the closed hunting seasons and shot Portuguese ibexes when the herds came down to lower altitudes in May. Local people hunted it for its meat and for the bezoar stones in its stomach which were regarded as potent medicine and antidotes for poisons of all kind. The skins were used as coverlets and the horns both as ornaments and as trumpets of alpine horns to call across the narrow valleys of the north-western mountains. By 1870 this ibex was a rare animal. The last herd of about a dozen animals was recorded in 1886. An old female was captured alive in September 1889, but only survived for three days. Two more females were found dead next year, victims of a Galician avalanche. The last known Portuguese Ibex in Spain died in 1890, and the very last known sighting was a female near Lombade Pan in the Serra do Gerês in Portugal in 1892. Nowadays another subspecies, the Gredos Ibex Capra pyrenaica victoriae Cabrera, 1911, has been introduced in the former range of the Portuguese Ibex.
[edit] Possible causes
Hunting pressure from humans may be the cause of extinction. Some scientists have pointed to other factors than human interference as reason for the decline of the Portuguese Ibex. Grey wolves and golden eagles could be another reason why the population declined so fast, disease from domestic herds and a disproportionate number of males. The last point seems especially dubious, the bucks were naturally the most hunted and recorded. Beside that, the last recorded sightings were all females. But there is little doubt that the only significant enemies were humans.
[edit] Sources
- Almaça, C. 1992. Notes on Capra pyrenaica lusitanica Schlegel, 1872, Mammalia, Paris, 56: 121-124.
- Choffat, P. 1920. Le Bouquetin du Gerez et le Bouquetin de Monte Junto. Bulletin de la Société Portugaise des Sciences Naturelles, Lisbonne, VIII (2) : 151-156. Cabra do Gerês. Capra lusitanica. Geologia. Paleontologia. Ossos de Capra hispanica, não de C. lusitanica.
- Day, D., 1981, The Doomsday Book of Animals, Ebury Press, London.
- França, C. 1908. Descrição da nova espécie, Capra lusitanica França, 1908, in: Le Professeur Barbosa du Bocage - 1823-1907. Bulletin de la Société Portugaise de Sciences Naturelles, II (1-2), pág. 144.
- França, C. 1917. Le bouquetin du Gerez : Capra Lusitanica ; notes sur une espèce éteinte / Carlos França IN: Arquivos da Universidade de Lisboa: Lisboa , vol. 4, 1917, p. 19-53. Fauna - Serra do Gerez (Portugal) / Cabra Lusitana .
- Maas, P. 2005. Portuguese Ibex - Capra pyrenaica lusitanica. The Extinction Website.
- Perez, J.M., Granados, J.E., Soriguer, R.C., Fandos, P., Marquez, F.J., and Crampe, J.P. 2002. Distribution, status and conservation problems of the Spanish ibex, Capra pyrenaica (Mammalia: Artiodactyla). Mammal Rev. 32(1):26-39.
