This is the
magnificent Alpine Ibex, a 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 skills.
It's also one of the few mammals that lives in the high altitudes,
well above the treeline 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 tale to life, we connected with Patrik
from Slovenia, who has been a Mossy Earth 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 ibex is a species of wild goats
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 coats for a shorter one.
In terms of size and weight, 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, lynx
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, Cingino Dam in Piemonte in Italy.
This is only made possible by their sharp edged hoofs with concave 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
high up 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
2 and 3 hours.
Then we will start looking for Ibex as they can be anywhere.
They are really good at finding some steep and inaccessible spots
where they can feed and rest.
Luckily, I am joined by my father, Aleš, who will help me on today's adventure.
He's very skilled at finding wild animals, which is always a challenge,
but especially today as Ibex can hide anywhere.
Patrik 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 is 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 B.C., the Alpine Ibex
disappeared from the Apennines,
the Balkans, the Carpathians, the generic Alps and the Tatras.
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 Patrik is filming them.
There was a folk legend of an ibex named Zlatorog
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 handed down so fiercely that by the early 1800s,
less than 100 ibex remained.
The steep decline had its impacts 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 a hunting of Alpine ibex all across his kingdom
and Gran 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.
Other reintroductions did not fare so well, for one attempt in the Tatra
mountains of Slovakia, a mistake was made by not only using Alpine Ibex
but also Anatolian ibex Capra aegagrus 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
linked 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 Patrik 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 Patrik 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 Patrik,
one of our oldest members who can tell you all about it.
I've been a Mossy 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 Mossy Earth membership is perfect for me.
What I like the most about Mossy 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 kelp
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 Water Voles 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 impacts.
This here is a snapshot of Patrik'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 we'd 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 Patrik
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 Patrik 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 Patrik got those photos, which he happened to show to me
on a call before.
So his channel is Patrik 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.