Rupricapra pyrenaica

		Size: from 100 to 110 cm long and 70 cm at the withers. Weight: from 25 to 40 kg. Distinctive features: the izard is a member of the antelope family. Its hooves have sharp edges to cling to rocks. Between the cloven hooves there is a small membrane which helps it walk on snow.

Reproduction: females give birth in the spring. The young izard weighs two kilograms at birth. It spends its first year following its mother, learning to graze and jump around the rocks. Soon it can race down a rock face 100 m high in a few dozen seconds and climb it again at the same speed. It can survive falls and terrifying avalanches and will plunge into a ravine without the slightest hesitation! Food: lichen, buds (especially from rowan and beech trees) and grass.

Habitat: from grassy slopes to rocky cliffs 3,000 m high, though it is often found in beech or pine forests during the winter. In the Pyrenees: an emblem of the Pyrenees mountains, the izard almost became extinct in the 1940s: it is now protected, with strict rules on hunting. It currently thrives in Pyrenean reserves, especially at Orlu but also in the Ossau valley and around Cauterets.

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