Alpine Ibex

It is a sexually dimorphic species with larger males who carry larger, curved horns. The coat colour is typically brownish grey. Alpine ibex tend to live in steep, rough terrain above the snow line. They are also social, although adult males and females segregate for most of the year, coming together only to mate. Four distinct groups exist; adult male groups, female-offsping groups, groups of young individuals, and mixed sex groups.

Compared with other members of its genus, the Alpine ibex has a short, broad head and a duller coat. It has brownish grey hair over most of the body, a pale abdomen and slightly darker markings on the chin and throat and in a stripe along the back. They moult twice a year, firstly in April or May, and then again in September, when they replace the short summer coat with thicker hair and a woolly undercoat.

Alpine ibexes have large, backwards-curving, horns with numerous ridges along their length. At 69 to 98 centimetres (27 to 39 in), those of the males are substantially larger than those of females, which reach only 18 to 35 centimetres (7.1 to 13.8 in) in length.