Rupicapra

Rupicapra
Chamois
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Caprinae
Genus: Rupicapra
Blainville, 1816
Range of Rupicapra during the Holocene (grey) and present range (red)

Rupicapra is a genus of goat antelope called chamois. They belong to the bovine family of hoofed mammals, the Bovidae.

Two extant species are recognized.[1] One, Rupicapra rupicapra, has no common name other than simply chamois and is native to the mountains of south and central Europe, Turkey, and the Caucasus in southwest Asia. The other species has more recently been recognized as separate from the rest: the Pyrenean chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica). The latter are named after their native habitat, the Pyrenees (a mountain range in southwestern Europe). A 2014 study by Durham University discovered that these goats are shrinking in size due to global warming and climatic changes.[2]

References

  1. Grubb, P. (2005). "Order Artiodactyla". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 711–712. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. "Mountain Goats Are Shrinking—A Lot—Because of Global Warming". National Geographic Society. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
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