Diana Hérens - The Ibex

The ibex is the climber par excellence among Valais ungulates. Their hooves are perfectly adapted to moving around rock faces. Their hard edges guarantee a firm hold on the smallest rocks, while their soft soles offer optimum grip on smooth rock. Throughout their lives, their horns grow a few centimetres during the summer. When growth is interrupted in winter, growth rings (annual striae) appear on the back of the horns, making it possible to accurately determine their age.

INTERSPECIFIC COMPETITION

While some ibex colonies show unexplained population declines, others are growing steadily. Due to their shared use of the few winter sheds that are still quiet today, and the good feeding areas, ibex are able to compete locally with locally declining chamois populations. Although perfectly adapted to harsh winter conditions in the mountains, the ibex can suffer heavy losses in snowy, avalanche-prone winters, or in the event of epizootics.

APPROXIMATELY 6,200 IBEX CURRENTLY LIVE IN THE VALAIS (2021 FIGURES).

The ibex is protected under Swiss hunting law. However, the Ordinance on the Regulation of Ibex Populations (ORB) authorizes the harvesting of ibex. In Valais, the number of ibex to be taken and the distribution of shots (according to age, sex and colony) are determined each year by a hunting plan, which must be approved by the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). Holders of shooting permits must attend a compulsory course on the ibex in general and on the characteristics of the age classes allocated to them. As ibex hunting takes place in the high mountains, it is very demanding, requiring good knowledge of the terrain and good physical condition.

©SCPF/SW

DID YOU KNOW?

By the early 19th century, the ibex had disappeared from Switzerland, the last ibex having been harvested in Valais in 1809. By 1911, the ibex had been reintroduced throughout the Alps.