Alpine Ibex on rocky mountain slope
© Samuel Gachet/Moment/Getty Images
Though this Alpine ibex is a resident of France, you can bet your bottom Euro its ancestors come from Italy. Overhunted for centuries, this species of amply horned goats saw its numbers reduced to around 100 animals by the late 1800s. That small population resided in Italy's Gran Paradiso region near the French and Swiss borders, and most Alpine ibexes in the wild today are descended from them (a classic population bottleneck). It was a close call with a good outcome—but not without consequence. Even though the species is now considered least-concern with an estimated 50,000 living individuals, it's extremely low in genetic diversity, making it more vulnerable to disease than before.
绝处逢生
巨角马鹿，落基山脉
山中的驼鹿
驼鹿和缅因州
不要惹驼鹿
庞大的南非剑羚
一位高地朋友在打招呼
荒野中的驼鹿
