Nubian ibex

The Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana) is a desert-dwelling species of goat (genus Capra) found in mountainous areas of northern and northeast Africa, and the Middle East. Historically considered a subspecies of the Alpine ibex (C. ibex), it is now recognized as a distinct species. The wild population is estimated at 4,500 mature individuals, and it is classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Taxonomy

Classification

The Nubian ibex was first identified in modern science by Frédéric Cuvier in his 1825 Histoire naturelle des mammifères: avec des figures originales, coloriées, dessinées d'aprèsdes animaux vivans, in which he illustrated the animal with the label "Bouc sauvage de la Haute-Égypte" ("Wild goat of Upper Egypt"). It was initially classified as Capra ibex nubiana, a subspecies of the Alpine ibex (C. ibex) identified by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Other early researchers classified it as a now-defunct synonym, C. sinaitica, or the Sinai ibex. While it was referred to as its own species, C. nubiana, by some authors in the 19th and early 20th Century, the first widely recognized researcher to classify the Nubian ibex as a unique species, and not as a subspecies, was Hans-Peter Uerpmann in his 1987 book, The ancient distribution of ungulate mammals in the Middle East: fauna and archaeological sites in Southwest Asia and Northeast Africa. Capra nubiana, the Nubian ibex, is now broadly accepted by scientists as a unique species.

Fossil history

The earliest remains of the Nubian ibex in the Palestine region date back approximately 150,000 years to the Pleistocene, and it has been continually present in the region since then. In spite of the growing presence of livestock such as domesticated goats over the last 10,000 years, Nubian ibex have remained in the region throughout this time.