Siberian ibex | |
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Female and male at the Berlin Zoological Garden, Germany | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Family: | Bovidae |
Subfamily: | Caprinae |
Tribe: | Caprini |
Genus: | Capra |
Species: | C. sibirica
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Binomial name | |
Capra sibirica Pallas, 1776
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Range of the Siberian ibex |
The Siberian ibex (Capra sibirica), also known using regionalized names including Altai ibex, Asian ibex, Central Asian ibex, Gobi ibex, Himalayan ibex, Mongolian ibex or Tian Shan ibex,[2] is a polytypic species of ibex, a wild relative of goats and sheep. It lives in Central Asia, and is, by far, the most widely-distributed species in the genus Capra. In terms of population stability, Siberian ibex are currently ranked as Near Threatened, mostly due to over-hunting (mainly by wealthy, foreign hunters), low densities (in most areas) and overall decline; still, reliable data is minimal and difficult to come by, in addition to the animals’ expansive natural range, so accurate observations are still scant.[3] The Siberian ibex has, formerly, been treated as a subspecies of the Eurasian Alpine ibex, and whether or not it is a single species or a complex of distinct units that stand out as genetically-distinct (at species level) is still not entirely clear.[2][4] The Siberian ibex is the longest and heaviest member of the genus Capra, though its shoulder height is slightly surpassed by the markhor.
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