THE IBEX

In Israel, ibexes are common in the Negev, the hills around Eilat, and the Judean Hills in the vicinity of Dead Sea. The Ibex, a species of wild goat, roams around the cliffs and steep slopes, which are its natural habitat. Its range is always in the vicinity of streams, springs or waterholes rich in herbage, as it is written in the Bible: The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats… (Psalms 104:18).

Ibexes need to drink (although infrequently), so hunters, from time immemorial, have taken to ambushing them close to their sources of water. Besides Man, their only natural enemy is the leopard, which once flourished in the Negev, and is still found there at Ein Gedi. The ibex is a ruminant, feeding on various kinds of vegetation, then chewing its cud. Its brown colour solid body and muscular legs, as well as the special structure of its hoofs which gives it excellent rock-climbing ability, together enable it to exist and survive under harsh desert and mountain conditions. Ibexes live most of the year in separate herds of adult males (bucks) and of females (does) and kids. A larger, heavier body than the doe, .a full beard, and longer backward-curving horns, which are used to impress and discourage its competitors in the flock, marks the buck. The bucks become involved fairly in violent head-on clashes, in which they butt each other with their horns over females, or in an effort to improve their positions in the “pecking order” of the flock and thus control a better territory. The two sexes meet only during the mating season (September to November), when the dominant male of the flock, mounts the females after lengthy courtship rituals. In the spring, the pregnant does, approaching term, leave the flock and give birth to one or two kids each. The ibex population in Israel, once distressed, has been recovering over the past several years, thanks to stricter enforcement of the Nature Reserve Laws and strict prohibition of hunting.