THE SPANISH IBEX
In the Spanish ibex Spain possesses not only a species peculiar to the
Peninsula, but a game-animal of the first rank.
Fortunate it is that this sentence can be written in the present tense
instead of (as but a few years ago appeared probable) in the past.
Since we first wrote on this subject in 1893 the Spanish ibex has passed
through a crisis that came perilously near extirpation. Up to the date
named, and for several years later, none of the great landowners of
Spain, within whose titles were included the vast sierras and
mountain-ranges that form its home, had cherished either pride or
interest in the Spanish wild-goat. Some were dimly conscious of its
existence on their distant domains: but that was all. Not a scintilla of
reproach is here inferred. For these mountain-ranges are so remote and
so elevated as often to be almost inaccessible--or accessible only by
organised expedition independent of local aid. Their sole human
inhabitants are a segregated race of goat-herds, every man of them a
born hunter, accustomed from time immemorial to kill whenever
opportunity offered--and that regardless of size, sex, or season. That
the ibex should have survived such persecution by hardy mountaineers
bespeaks their natural cunning. Their survival was due to two
causes--first, the antiquated weapons employed, but, more important, the
astuteness of the game and the "defence" it enjoyed in the stupendous
precipices and snow-fields of those sierras, great areas of which remain
inaccessible even to specialised goat-herds, save only for a limited
period in summer.
But no wild animal, however astute or whatever its "defence," can
withstand for ever perpetual, skilled human persecution. During the
early years of the present century the Spanish ibex appeared doomed
beyond hope. Private efforts over such vast areas were obviously
difficult, if not impossible.
We rejoice to add that at this eleventh hour a new era of existence has
been secured to _Capra hispánica_ at that precise psychological moment
when its scant survivors were struggling in their last throes. The
change is due to graceful action by the landowners in certain great
mountain-ranges; and if our own explorations and our writings on the
subject have also tended to assist, none surely will grudge the authors
this expression of pride in having helped, however humbly, to preserve
not only to Spain, but to the animal-world, one of its handsomest
species.
This new era took different forms in different places. In certain
sierras--those of less boundless area--the owners have undertaken the
preservation of the ibex partly from their realising the tangible asset
this game-beast adds to the value of barren mountain-land, and partly in
view of the legitimate sport that an increase in stock may hereafter
afford.
But the main factor which has assured success (and which in itself led
up to the private efforts just named) took origin in the great Sierra de
Grédos. This elevated region is the apex of the long cordillera of
central Spain, the Carpeto-Vetonico range, which extends from Moncayo,
east of Madrid, for some 300 miles through the Castiles and Estremadura,
forming the watershed of Tagus and Douro. It separates the two Castiles,
and passing the frontier of Portugal is there known as the Serra da
Estrella, which, with the Cintra hills, extends to the Atlantic
sea-board. Along all this extensive cordillera there is no more favoured
resort of ibex than its highest peak, the Plaza de Almanzór, of 2661
metres altitude (= 8700 feet) above sea-level.
In 1905, when the ibex were about at their last gasp, the proprietors of
the _Nucléo central_, which we may translate as the _Heart_ of Grédos,
of their own initiative, ceded to King Alfonso XIII. the sole
rights-of-chase therein, and His Majesty commissioned the Marquis of
Villaviciosa de Asturias to appoint an adequate force of guards.
Six guards were selected from the self-same goat-herds who, up to that
date, had themselves been engaged in hunting to extermination the last
surviving ibex of the sierra, and whom we had ourselves employed during
various expeditions therein.
[Illustration: ON THE RISCO DEL FRAILE.
SPANISH IBEX IN SIERRA DE GRÉDOS..]
The ceded area comprised all the best game-country, defined as the
"Circo de Grédos"--including the gorge of the Laguna Grande, the Risco
del Fraile, Risco del Francés, and that of Ameál de Pablo, together with
the wild valley of Las Cinco Lagunas--as shown on rough sketch-plan
annexed.
[Illustration: SKETCH-MAP OF THE _NUCLÉO CENTRAL_ OF GRÉDOS
(A. _Alto del Casquerázo._
B. _Riscos del Fraile_, with the Hermanitos in front.)]
In 1896 we estimated the stock of ibex at fifty head, and during the
following years it fell far below that--by 1905 almost to zero. In 1907,
after only two years of "sanctuary," it was computed by the guards that
the total exceeded 300 head.
In July 1910 we inquired if it were possible to estimate the present
stock. In a letter (the composition of which would cost some anxiety)
the Guarda of the Madrigal de la Vera--one portion only of the
"sanctuary"--reports: "It is difficult to count the ibex. Sometimes we
see more, sometimes less. Yesterday on the Cabeza Neváda we counted 39
rams and 22 females together. On the other side we counted 29 in one
troop, 19 in another, 12 in another, besides smaller lots. We probably
saw 160 or 170, and we could not see all. Some of the old rams are very
big, and it would be advisable that some be shot." Another report (at
same date) from the "Hoyos del Espino," estimates the ibex there to
exceed 200 head. The two reports go to show that the continuity of the
race is fairly secured.
[A similar cession of sole hunting-rights to the King was simultaneously
made by the owners of the "Central Group" of the Picos de Europa in
Asturias. There are no ibex in that Cantabrian range; the graceful act
was there inspired by a desire to preserve the chamois, animals with
which we deal in another chapter.]
The Spanish ibex is found at six separate points in the Peninsula, each
colony divided from its fellows as effectually as though broad oceans
rolled between. The six localities are:--
(1) The Pyrenees--which we have not visited.
(2) Sierra de Grédos, as above defined, and as described in greater
detail hereafter.
(3) Sierra Moréna, a single isolated colony near Fuen-Caliente, now
preserved (see next chapter).
(4) Sierra Neváda and the Alpuxarras (cf. _infra_).
(5) The mountains along the Mediterranean, which are properly western
outliers of Neváda, but which are usually grouped as the "Serrania de
Ronda," some lying within sight of Gibraltar. Several of the most
important ranges are now preserved by their owners (cf. _infra_).
(6) Valencia, Sierra Martés. This forms a new habitat hitherto
unrecorded, and of which we only became aware through the kindness of
Mr. P. Burgoyne of Valencia, who has favoured us with the annexed photo
of an ibex head killed (along with a smaller example) at Cuevas Altas in
the mountain-region known as Peñas Pardas in that province, February 22,
1909. The dimensions read as follows:--
Length along front curves 21-3/4 inches
Circumference at base 7-7/8 "
Widest span 16-3/8 "
Tip to tip 17 "
Our informant has reason to believe that ibex also exist (or existed
within recent years) in the rugged mountains of Tortosa, farther east in
Catalonia.
In the form of its horns the Spanish ibex differs essentially from the
typical ibex of the Alps--now, alas, exterminated save only in the King
of Italy's preserved ranges around the Val d'Aosta. In the true ibex the
horns bend regularly backwards and downwards in a uniform, scimitar-like
curve. In the Spanish species, after first diverging laterally, the
horns are recurved both inward and finally upward. That is, in the first
case they follow a simple semicircular bend, while in the Spanish goats
they form almost a spiral.
A minor point of difference lies in the annular rings or notches which
in the true ibex are rectangular, encircling the horn in front like
steps in a ladder, while in _Capra hispánica_ they rather run obliquely
in semi-spiral ascent. These annulations indicate the age of the
animal--one notch to each year--but the count must stop where the spiral
ends. Beyond that is the lightly grooved tip, which does not alter.
The horns of old rams (which are often broken or worn down at the tips)
average 26 to 28 inches, specially fine examples reaching 29 inches or
more. The females likewise carry horns, but short and slender, only
measuring 6 or 7 inches.
The six isolated colonies of ibex, separated from each other during
ages, live under totally different natural conditions. For while some,
as stated, exist at 8000, 10,000, or 12,000 feet altitude, others occupy
hills of much more moderate elevations--say 4000 to 6000 feet, some of
which are bush-clad to their summits. Under such circumstances there
have naturally developed divergencies not only in habits, but in form
and size. Particularly does this apply to the horns, and for that reason
we give a series of photos of typical examples from various points.
The ibex of the Pyrenees is certainly the largest race, and has been
entitled by scientists _Capra pyrenaica_; those of the centre and south
of Spain being differentiated as _C. hispánica_. We attach less
importance to specific distinctions, but leave the illustrations of
specimens to speak for themselves. It may, however, be remarked that
examples from the two outside extremes (Pyrenees and Neváda) most
closely assimilate in their flattened and compressed form of horn.
Neither in Grédos nor Neváda are the rock-formations so precipitous as
in the Picos de Europa in Asturias--described later in this book. They
present, nevertheless, difficulties possibly insuperable to mere hunters
unskilled in the technique of climbing. Rock-climbing forms a recognised
branch of "mountaineering," but of that science the authors (with sorrow
be it confessed) have never been enamoured. To us, mountains, merely as
such, have not appealed. But they form the home of alpine creatures, the
study and acquisition of which were objects that no terrestrial obstacle
could entirely forbid, and we enjoy retrospective pride in having so far
surmounted those antecedent terrors as to have secured a few specimens
of this, the most "impossible" of European trophies--the Spanish ibex.
An awkward situation is a subrounded wall of rough granulated granite
blocking our course and traversed obliquely by an up-trending fissure
barely the breadth of hempen soles, its inclination outward, and the
"tread" carpeted with slippery wet moss still half frozen. It is seldom
what one can _see_ that gives pause, but the fear of the unseen. Here we
hesitate by reason of the uncertainty of what may confront beyond that
grim curve. The fissure might cease; to turn back would clearly be
impossible. Impatient of delay our crag-born guide--a _homo rupestris_,
prehensile of foot--seized the gun, and with a muttered ejaculation that
might have included scorn, in three strides had skipt around the dreaded
corner--of course we followed.
Snow-slopes tipped at steep angles never inspire confidence in the
unaxed climber, especially when the surface is half melted, revealing
green ice beneath, and when the disappearing curve conceals from view
what dangers may lurk below. Again a suddenly interrupted ledge--say
where some great block has become disintegrated from the hanging
face--necessitates a sort of nervy jump quite calculated to shorten
one's days, even if it does not precipitately terminate them.
The ibex is always nocturnal. On the great cordilleras it spends its day
asleep on some rock-ledge isolated amidst snow-fields, its security
doubly assured by sentinels, whenever such are deemed necessary: or,
lower down, in the caves of a sheer precipice. Only after sun-down do
the ibex descend, and never, even then, so far as timber-line. On these
loftier sierras their home by day is confined to rock and snow; by night
to that zone of moss, heath, and alpine vegetation that intervenes
between the snow-line and topmost levels of scrub and conifer.
* * * * *
Such are the ibex of the loftier ranges--Grédos and Neváda. But in the
south, wild-goats are found on mountains of inferior elevation, 4000 to
6000 feet, many of which are jungled--some even forested--to their
summits, and there they cannot disdain the shelter of the scrub. We have
hunted them (within sight of the Mediterranean) in ground that appeared
more suitable to roe-deer, and have seen the "rootings" of wild-pig
within the ibex-holding area.
In such situations the wild-goats take quite kindly to the scrub,
forming regular "lairs" wherein they lie-up as close as hares or roe.
Amidst the brushwood that clothes the highland--heaths and broom,
genista, rhododendron, lentiscus, and a hundred other shrubs--they rest
by day and browse by night without having to descend or shift their
quarters at all. On these lower hills the ibex owe their safety, and
survival, to the vast area of covert, and, in less degree, to their
comparatively small numbers. So few are they and so big their home, they
are considered "not worth hunting."
During summer the ibex feed on the mountain-grasses, rush, and flowering
shrubs which at that season adorn the alpine solitudes; later, on the
berries and wild-fruits of the hill. By autumn they attain their highest
condition--the beards of the rams fully developed and their brown pelts
glossy and almost uniform in colour. At this period (September to
October) the rutting season occurs and fighting takes place--the
champions rearing on hind-legs for a charge, and the crash of opposing
horns resounds across the corries of the sierra. Even in spring memories
of the combative instinct survive, for we have watched, in April, a pair
of veterans sparring at each other for half an hour.
The young are born in April and soon follow their dams--graceful
creatures with unduly large hind-legs, like brown lambs. One is the
usual number, though two are not infrequent. The kid remains with its
dam upwards of a year--that is, till after a second family has been
born.
At that season (April to May) the ibex are changing their coats. The
males lose the flowing beard and assume a hoary piebald colour,
contrasting with the dark of legs and quarters. The muzzle is warm cream
colour and the lower leg (below knee) prettily marked with black and
white. On the knee is a callosity, or round patch of bare hardened skin.
The horns of yearling males are thicker and heavier than those of adult
females.
Though the hill-shepherds in summer drive out their herds of goats to
pasture on the higher sierra, where they may come in contact with their
wild congeners, yet no interbreeding has ever been known; nor can the
wild ibex be domesticated. Wild kids that are captured invariably die
before attaining maturity. The horns of the herdsmen's goats differ in
type from those of the ibex, which can never have been the progenitor of
the race of goats now domesticated in Spain.
Though the personal aroma of an ibex-ram is strong--rather more
offensive than that of a vulture--yet no trace of this remains after
cooking. The flesh is brown and tough, but devoid of any special flavour
or individuality--that is, when subjected to the rude cookery of the
camp.