Iberian wild goat - Capra pyrenaica

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Habitat

It occurs in rocky habitats. Even small rocky patches in arable farmland and on the coast may be used, although cliffs and screes interspersed with scrub or pine trees are the most typical habitats.

Behaviour

It often lives in very close proximity to humans, and is a familiar and popular species. It disperses readily and can rapidly colonise new areas if appropriate habitat is available.

It is an important trophy-hunting species, with some trophy prices exceeding EUR 2,000. Hunting can be an important source of revenue to local communities in rural areas. The species can sometimes be an agricultural pest, causing damage to almond trees.

Reproduction

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No clear information is found available to add to the page. However, it can be expected that the Wolf is a main predator of Iberian Wild Goat.

The population in the whole of the Iberian peninsula was estimated at c.50,000 individuals in more than 50 subpopulations.

Subpopulations include those of the:

• Sierra Nevada (16,000 individuals)
• Sierra de Gredos (8,000 individuals)
• Maestrazgo (7,000 individuals)
• Serranía de Ronda and Sierras de Grazalema (4,000 individuals)
• Puertos de Tortosa y Beceite Natural Park (4,000 individuals)
• Cazorla (2,500 individuals),Sierra Tejeda y Almijara (2,500 individuals)
• Sierras de Antequera (2,000 individuals)
• Sierra Morena (2,000 individuals)
• Muela de Córtes (1,500 individuals)

Numbers have expanded dramatically since the early 1990's, when the total population was estimated at c.7,900 individuals, and continue to increase.

Its range is expanding in Spain and into Portugal.

In 2003 the Portuguese population consisted of a minimum of 75 individuals.

Riano regional park Spain
Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica: extinct
Capra pyrenaica hispanica: extinctCapra pyrenaica victoriae: rare.
Capra pyrenaica victoriae has recently been reintroduced to this area after more than a century of absence.

• Portugal
• Spain

• Cantabrian mountains

Capra pyrenaica - Iberian wild goat: Current distribution
Source: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

This species historically occurred throughout the Iberian peninsula, including southwest France, Spain, Andorra, and Portugal. It is, however, extinct in the northern part of its range (including in France and Andorra), and no longer occurs in the Pyrenees.

Capra pyrenaica lusitanica died out at the end of the 19th century, and Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica went extinct in 2000 when the last known individual was found dead.

It formerly occurred throughout much of the French, Spanish and Andorran Pyrenees, and persisted until recently in Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park in the Maladeta massif. The species is found from sea level to 3,400 m.

Capra pyrenaica is now endemic to the Iberian peninsula. Of the four described subspecies, only two are extant: Capra pyrenaica victoriae and Capra pyrenaica hispanica.

Capra pyrenaica victoriae occurs in the central Spanish mountains (Sierra de Gredos), and has been re-introduced to a number of additional sites in Spain (Batuecas, La Pedriza, Riaño) and northern Portugal (Peneda-Gerês National Park).

Capra pyrenaica hispanica occupies the arc of mountains that run along the Mediterranean coast, from the Ebro river to the rock of Gibraltar (where it no longer occurs), as well as the Sierra Morena.

No threats are causing population or range declines at present - indeed the species is expanding.

However, alteration and fragmentation of habitats (through agriculture, forestry, fires, and infrastructure development) may impact upon certain Capra pyrenaica populations, and competition with the introduced the aoudad (Ammotragus lervia) might become a conservation problem in the near future.

The aoudad was introduced during the 1970's in southeastern Spain, and recently an important range expansion of this exotic ungulate has been reported; competition between these two ungulate species can be expected.

The impact of hunting (predominantly for trophies) has not been scientifically assessed, but the poaching of large dominant males might alter gene flow. However, hunting levels are broadly under control.

Outbreaks of mange (Sarcoptes scabiei) occur sporadically and have caused at least one major population crash.

Wild goats are occasionally killed by accident during wild boar hunting-drives with dogs.

Previously, the population was kept low by competition with domestic livestock, which restricted wild goats to marginal habitats. The causes of Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica' s demise are unknown, but there are a number of hypotheses including competition for food with chamois, inbreeding depression, parasite infections from domestic livestock, climatic conditions, poaching, and low fertility due to plant secondary compounds. The last remaining individual, a 13-year-old female, was killed by a falling tree.

It is listed as Critically Endangered in Portugal, owing to its very small population in that country.

Capra pyrenaica victoriae occurs in Sierra de Gredos, las Batuecas and Riaño Hunting Reserves and Manzanares Natural Park.

Capra pyrenaica hispanica occurs in a number of protected areas, including Sierra de las Nieves, Sierra de Grazalema, Sierra Nevada, and Sierra de Tajada y Almijara, Puertos de Tortosa y Beceite, and Muela de Cortes. However, most of the range occupied by wild goats is outside protected areas.

Conservation measures proposed include establishing additional populations of Capra pyrenaica victoriae in other areas to strengthen its conservation status by reducing the possibility of an epizootic or some other catastrophe wiping out, or severely depleting, the present small population.

When establishing new populations, founder effects should be considered, and sufficient numbers of animals should be introduced to maintain genetic diversity. Measures should be taken to reduce poaching, and the impact of hunting should be scientifically assessed.

• Legal aspects of (Re-)introduction of large herbivores

• Large herbivores on the move
• Status report 2007 of the large herbivores of the palaeartic