Cantabrian chamois

The Cantabrian chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica parva) is a slim mountain goat antelope, and is one of the 10 subspecies of the genus Rupicapra. It ranges the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain, with a population of 17,000 animals in 2007-2008. The systematic of the species is still under discussion. Ángel Cabrera (1914), on studying the body shape and skull morphology, considered this taxa so similar to the Pyrenean chamois as to be of the same species. Lovari (1987), using morphology, genetic and ethology data proposed to separate the south-west European animals of the Cantabrian Mountains and Pyrenees (Rupicapra pyrenaica parva, R.p. pyrenaica), from the rest of the European and Asian animals (Rupicapra r. cartusiana -Chartreuse Mountains-, Rupicapra r. rupicapra -Alps-, Rupicapra r. tatrica -Tatra Mountains-, Rupicapra r. carpatica -Romania-, Rupicapra r. balcanica -Balkans-, Rupicapra r. asiatica -Turkey- y Rupicapra r. caucasica -Caucasus Mountains). Different genetic studies still argue over the taxonomy of the species. This species is called rebeco, rebeco cantábrico, gamuza, robezu (in the Asturias region), and rebezo (in the Galicia region). The Cantabrian chamois is a slim bovid the size of a domestic goat. Both sexes have peculiar hooked horns (more hooked and thicker in males than in females, Figures 1,2,3). The horns have a transversal segmentation pattern due to seasonal growth (winter-summer). The head, throat and cheeks are a light cinnamon colour with a dark mask design that crosses the big eyes (Figure 1). The back, chest, legs and flanks are dark brown, while the shoulders and hindquarters are pale brown. In winter, the back and belly become paler in colour and the flanks darker, giving a more contrasting colour pattern (Figure 4). Juveniles exhibit a less contrasting colour pattern.