Bezoar ibex
The bezoar ibex is a wild goat subspecies that is native to the montane forested areas in the Anatolia, Caucasus and the Zagros Mountains.
Characteristics
The bezoar ibex, which weighs around 60 kg is known particularly for the size of its horns; it possesses the world's longest horns in relation to body weight, and can exceed high, those in the south and east desert ranges are typically smaller by 30 percent. Females are slightly smaller and their horns tend to grow to. Males have a dark brown summer coat, while the females have a more reddish-gold, and both sexes shift to a gray-colored coat in winter. Both sexes also have a tuft of hair extending from the chin. The ibexes have a black stripe from the spine that extends over the shoulder, limbs, and neck. This stripe darkens in the mating season.Distribution and habitat
In Turkey, the bezoar ibex is distributed from the southern Aegean coast to the Taurus and Anti-Taurus Mountains into steep areas of southeastern Anatolia, much of eastern Anatolia and the Pontic Alps.In the Greater Caucasus, it ranges from the upper Argun river in Georgia to Chechnya, in the Andi Koisu and Avar Koisu river basins in Daghestan and Tusheti up to the headwaters of the Jurmut river. In the Lesser Caucasus, it occurs in the mountain ranges in Azerbaijan and Armenia, including the Zangezur Mountains, Meghri, Mrovdagh, Karabakh and Delidagh ranges. In Iran, it is widely distributed and lives in rocky terrain, mountainous areas, on cliffs along the seashore, deciduous forests and in some areas in the Dasht-e Kavir desert. In Iraq, it occurs in the Zagros Mountains along the borders with Turkey and Iran.