Talk:Alpine ibex

Steinbock
User:Ferkelparade: Of course, I udnerstood that the English also like to call it steinbock. Only wanted to point out that it is German origin. (for English speakers: Steinbock is a German word, maening the same in german as in English, and put together from Stein=rock and Bock=(male) goat). Simon A. 15:17, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)


 * Hi Simon, I didn't think it was really necessary to add that the name is German...for example, the article on the Gnu/Wildebeest also just lists both common names without pointing out that one of them is the Boer name. Anyway, before we're riding the Ibex into Polish City territory, I've reinserted a small note about the German origin of the name :P Ferkelparade &pi; 17:44, 15 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Steinbock is the known name in English. Cognate of Steinbock in English would be stonebuck and haps stanbuck lesserly. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.104.159.79 (talk) 11:34, 20 January 2018 (UTC)

Height of 1M??
I assume this refers to height at the withers rather than head???--SB Pete (talk) 18:49, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

22,000 feet?
I don't know what source provided the figure of 22,000 feet for the upper elevational limit of Capra ibex, but if it's restricted to the Alps, then 15,774 feet (the summit of Mont Blanc) would seem to be the maximum possible (excluding the possibility of goat flight). I have changed it to 15,000, but suspect that even that is an overestimate. Can anyone provide a more accurate figure? --Stemonitis 06:28, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Bouquetins?
What's a bouquetin?
 * As far as I'm aware, bouquetin is just the French name for ibex. There might be some justification for including this in the English article, since much of the alpine ibex's habitat is in France and French-speaking Switzerland. Mtford 02:43, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes, just the French name for the Alpine Ibex as far as I understand it as well. Of course, when I was in Val D'Isere a few years back the English people with whom I had a conversation about the animals referred to them by the French name in an English accent so I suppose there is at least some precedent for the English language use of the French and/or German name. This is also, of course, quite common with other animals/plants. For example, Bouvier Des Flandres--/Flemish Sheep Dog; Coriander/Cilantro, etc. --SB Pete (talk) 18:44, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

Yes i would argue as well that the surviving ibex are coming from the French speaking regions of the alps (Grand Paradis in Aosta valley, and Savoy). Furthermore, they are much more common on the French speaking alps. (France, French-speaking Switzerland, Aosta valley) If Steinbock is used even though they are much less common in Tyrol, it would be normal that the original appellation is being used in English. Like chamois.... And ibex is mostly a latin scientific word used in the English language since, there is no real name to describe them. And all the English speaking people that I know and that are familiar with the alps/animal use the word bouquetin more than the other name.

--Gabriel Haute Maurienne (talk) 20:35, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

Jackals?
There are no jackals in the alps, so how can they get in a fight with the steinbock? 84.169.223.237 19:09, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

Climbing
WHY CAN THEY DEFY GRAVITY? Seriously. I read about these on Cracked, and neither Cracked nor the site Cracked linked to nor Wikipedia have explained sufficiently WHY they can just walk up walls like Spiderman. I mean some of the photographs I've seen of them are quite literally impossible. There is one line in this article, which says that they are "good climbers" in essence. Well so am I, and I can't ascend to the ceiling when I feel like it.

Thanks in advance if anybody knows the answer to this.

64.253.217.55 (talk) 04:58, 23 November 2010 (UTC) Hi,

It is because the nails of the feet is made like a kind of gum. Their feet are able to adjust to all type of terrain, wether it is rocks or plain grass. They literally stick on the ground, and move very fast, preventing the gravity to take them away in the cliffs. They are amazing, very docile, even though they are almost as big as a donkey in size. You can can get close to them up to 2 meters (roughly 3 yards) What a shame they have been almost extinct. The legend says that they have a bone shaped like a cross in their heart to prevent the organ to collapse due to the lack of oxygen and strong efforts. Locals were collecting those bones and wearing them as a necklace, thinking that this item would prevent them from sudden death. This legend plus the facility to get close to those mammals almost doomed their breed. Sad when a legend kills almost an entire race. --Gabriel Haute Maurienne (talk) 20:51, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

69
Hey some twat changed a bunch of numbers to 69 all over the article. I changed a few with my best guesses — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.145.135.143 (talk) 04:31, 29 October 2016 (UTC)

Reasons for Vandalism
To explain the reason for the recent vandalism, I believe it was tied to the 20th Anniversary of the original British Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. The question asked what an ibex was, and the choices were goat, pig, hare, and of course, deer. The contestant picked deer as his answer, and was told by Jeremy, the host, that he'd got it right...when he actually got it wrong. So yeah, that's probably why. --Asameshimae1 (talk) 13:04, 12 May 2018 (UTC)

Alpine ibex
What exactly is the size of alpine ibex?, 2405:201:1C:D1C6:AB:A7FB:977A:3E57 (talk) 05:52, 19 August 2022 (UTC)