Chamois | The chamois is a large sized mountain goat,
native to the European mountains. Today, the range of the chamois
includes Romania, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and parts of Turkey. The chamois has
also been introduced to the mountainous regions of New Zealand's South
Island. The chamois is a member of the Bovidae family of animals which
includes sheep goats and even antelope. The average sized adult chamois
stands at around 75cm high and weighs roughly 50 kg. The chamois is a
relatively stocky looking animal, especially when compared to the
average farm yard goat.
The chamois has short
horns, that curve backwards on both the male chamois and the female
chamois. The fur of the chamois is thick to keep it warm in the alpine
winters, and turns from a deep brown colour in the summer to a
grey colour in the winter. The chamois also has a white coloured face
with black markings below the eyes. The chamois has a black
stripe that runs along it's back from neck to rump. The male chamois is
generally a very solitary animal, as the male chamois spends most of the year grazing alone and meets with female chamois during the mating season. The female chamois
however, live in herds with other females and their young. This safety
in numbers approach helps the female chamois and the offspring to
protect one another.
As with other animals of the same group, such as sheep and goats, the chamois is a herbivorous animal feeding on a purely plant based diet.
The chamois spends it time grazing on the alpine meadows and munching
leaves from the shrubs and bushes. In it's natural European habitat, the
chamois has a number of predators including wolves, foxes and wildcats.
Over the years, the human has been one of the biggest predators of the
chamois as they are hunted for their meat. Before human settlers moved
into the European mountains, the chamois would have also had much larger
predators such as bears and leopards but both are nearly (if not)
extinct in Europe today. There are no natural predators of the chamois in it's introduced environment in New Zealand.
The mating season of the chamois occurs in the late winter to early spring. After a gestation period of between 5 and 6 months, the female chamois will give birth to a single chamois baby known as a chamois calf.
Although the chamois has been known to give birth to twins, it is very
rare. The mother chamois nurses her calf, feeding it milk until it is
able to graze. The chamois calf is more independent
at 6 months of age but the chamois calf tends to stay with it's mother
until it is at least a year old. Generally, the chamois lives to between
18 and 22 years.
Despite the fact that the chamois is not considered to be an endangered animal, or even an animal that is under threat from extinction, European laws prohibits the hunting of the chamois in order to try and conserve native mountainous animal species.
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