Capra ibex

Conservation status (CH)
Least concern

In the nineteenth century, ibexes were among the world’s rarest
mammals — though not for want of habitat. The species had
almost been eradicated as a result of hunters’ increasingly
effective weapons and a superstitious belief in the animals’
magical powers. Its horns were supposed to be a remedy for
impotence, and bezoarstones (taken from its stomach) were
used as an antidote to poisoning. Under the protection of the
King of Italy, around 100 ibexes survived — and multiplied — in
the Valle d’Aosta. In 1906, a few of these animals were stolen
on behalf of pioneering Swiss conservationists, and the ibex has
since recovered in this country. Groups such as that shown in
the diorama are rarely found: the males live separately from the
females and offspring for most of the year.