Where do domestic goats come from? The answer lies in their Tianshan "brothers"!

The steep cliffs seem like flat ground under their feet. Such a thrilling and visually impactful scene is something that only the "mountain elves" ibex can possess.

The northern goat is the only wild goat in China. For more than eight years, Yang Weikang, a researcher at the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has led a conservation biology team to monitor the northern goats in the central Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang. They have not only become the guardians of this group of arid creatures, but also provided a large amount of basic data and scientific basis for the management and protection of this species, allowing the world to appreciate the unique charm of the northern goat.

The ibex and the domestic goat are "brothers"

When talking about ibex, we have to start with sheep.

Sheep is one of the earliest animals that humans began to hunt and domesticate, and is closely related to the excellent traditional Chinese culture. For example, sheep is one of the 12 zodiac signs. In ancient times, "sheep" and "auspicious" were interchangeable. Among the Chinese characters with the "six domestic animals" such as horse, cow, and sheep as the root, the number of sheep characters is the largest, such as big sheep is beautiful and fish and sheep are fresh.

There are two types of sheep: goats and sheep. So, which type of sheep is it in China's excellent traditional culture? The answer is goats.

A large amount of archaeological evidence shows that domestic goats were domesticated from Persian wild goats in Mesopotamia about 10,000 years ago. In the high mountainous areas of western China, there is also a kind of wild goat, which is the protagonist of our story, the northern goat.

According to the information provided by Yang Weikan, the Siberian goat belongs to the order Artiodactyla, family Bovidae, subfamily Caprinae, genus Capra. It is also called hanging goat and wild goat. It is a Chinese national second-level key protected wild animal and an endangered (E) species on the China Red List.

In China, the northern goat is mainly distributed in Xinjiang, Gansu, and northwest Tibet. In recent years, with the support of the National Natural Science Foundation and other projects, the research team has carried out long-term and continuous monitoring of the northern goat in the central Tianshan Mountains, about 80 kilometers south of Urumqi, along the source area of ​​the Urumqi River, and collected a large amount of precious basic data.

The ibex is a "brother" of the same genus as the domestic goat. They are similar in appearance in that they have whiskers on their chins and bristles on their legs. The ibex is about 105 cm to 150 cm long and weighs 40 kg to 90 kg. Its hair is brownish yellow in summer, with white on the abdomen and inside of its limbs; its hair is long and light in winter. The body of young sheep is mostly a beautiful ginger color, and the hair color of four or five-year-old sheep is similar to that of adults.

Corners have multiple functions

If we mention the pair of horns hanging on the head of the ibex, it is also an interesting thing.
In oracle bone script, bronze inscription, large seal script and small seal script, the character "羊" has a pair of inverted "V"-shaped horns, just like the curved horns of the northern goat.

Adult male and female ibex have obvious differences in body size. Adult male ibex are burly and have a 15-centimeter-long beard under their jaws; female ibex are significantly smaller than male ibex and have shorter beards. The most obvious difference is the shape and size of the horns of male and female ibex.

The research team found that as the ram ages, its horns become longer and gradually bend into a sickle shape. The longest horn length recorded is 150 centimeters. It looks like a knight carrying two giant scimitars on his shoulders, with an awe-inspiring presence.

Researchers have determined that the age of a ram can be determined based on the growth rings on the side of its horns, and the number of growth rings is the exact age, similar to the growth rings of a tree.

Every winter, due to food shortage, the growth of mountain goats slows down, and the growth rate of their horns slows down. At this time, a dark black line will be left on the horns, which is the growth ring on the side of the ram's horns. The number of growth rings on the horns indicates how old the ram is.

In the wild, due to the observation distance and angle, researchers cannot see the growth rings on the side of the ram's horn, so they estimate the age by counting the "horizontal ridges" on the front of the ram's horn. In most cases, the ram's horn grows two "horizontal ridges" per year, so the number of "horizontal ridges" divided by 2 plus 1 year is the age.

Compared with male sheep, the horns of adult female sheep are only 19 cm to 39 cm long, with no obvious "horizontal ridge".

The ibex is a typical gregarious animal, mostly living in small groups of 2 to 10. Only during the mating season in autumn and winter each year will males and females gather in large groups of hundreds. The rest of the time they live in their own groups.

In the process of fighting for mating rights, the ram's horns play an important role, that is, through "horn butts" to form social hierarchy and determine mating rights. The huge curved horns become the ram's weapon, and the bigger the horns, the greater the chance of winning the courtship duel. In addition, due to factors such as reduced food intake and more physical energy consumed in fighting, some rams will end up "fighting with their lives" when fighting.

Interestingly, the ibex horns have the special function of "tickling". When a part of the body itches, it will turn its head and use its curved horns to find the place, moving up and down to tickle, and its tail can also easily "pinch".

A true mountaineering "athlete"

The Siberian ibex lives on bare plateau rocks and rocky mountainsides at altitudes of 3,500 to 6,000 meters. It is one of the highest-living mammals and can walk on cliffs as if they were on flat ground. It is a veritable mountaineering "athlete".

This is because they have short and thick limbs, narrow and powerful hooves, elastic heel joints and pincer-like toes, which allow them to run freely and jump freely among steep rocks, as if they had mastered unique martial arts.

Ibex is one of the "staple foods" of the top predator, the snow leopard. When feeding, they often look up vigilantly to observe the surrounding environment in order to detect natural enemies as early as possible.

Steep rocky cliffs are their best habitat. They usually move within 200 meters of the cliffs. Once threatened, they will quickly run to the steep rocks to escape danger, and predators can only sigh.

Through monitoring, the guardians found that the size of the ibex group is closely related to the habitat conditions. In Xinjiang's Tomur Peak, the terrain is steep and the food resources are severely fragmented, so they gather in groups of eight on average to avoid competing for food; in the central Tianshan Mountains, where food is abundant and the habitat is less fragmented, they gather in larger groups.

Seasonal changes in food resources also affect the size of ibex groups. In early spring, when plants sprout earlier in low-altitude areas, ibex gather there to form large groups; in winter, when food resources are scarce, ibex disperse into small groups.

Under wild conditions, the research team observed that the longest lifespan of northern goats was 13 years old, and under artificial breeding conditions, the longest lifespan was 16 years old.

The ibex is a broad-feeding species, eating up to 140 species of plants. In spring and early summer, when shrubs do not grow in the high mountainous areas, they mostly eat early-germinating grass and sedge plants. Pregnant ewes often go to the forests at lower altitudes to forage for young branches, flowers and fruits. In winter, when the area is covered with ice and snow, they mostly forage in the sunny slopes with bare rocks or in areas with thin snow.

Researchers have found that ibex do not stick to a specific type of food when feeding, and that ibex distributed in different regions have quite different dietary habits, which is conducive to expanding the distribution range of ibex.

In the 1970s, due to indiscriminate hunting and habitat destruction, the number of northern goats dropped sharply worldwide and their distribution area continued to shrink. After nearly 20 years of protection, the number of northern goats has recovered and has become a dominant species in some areas of the Tianshan Mountains.

There are currently about 100,000 to 150,000 ibex in the world.

At present, Yang Weikan is still leading his team to silently guard this group of "mountain elves". He plans to conduct a survey on the survival status of the Northern Mountain Goat species and explore management measures to protect the sustainable reproduction of the Northern Mountain Goat population, so as to implement key protection in key areas and make these figures jumping between the cliffs an eternal picture.