Tatra chamois
| Tatra chamois | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Bovidae |
| Subfamily: | Caprinae |
| Genus: | Rupicapra |
| Species: | R. rupicapra |
| Subspecies: | R. r. tatrica |
| Trinomial name | |
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Rupicapra rupicapra tatrica (Blahout, 1971/1972) |
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The Tatra chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra tatrica; Slovak: Kamzík vrchovský tatranský; Polish: Kozica tatrzańska) is a subspecies of the chamois of the Rupicapra genus. Tatra chamois lives in the Tatra Mountains in Slovakia and Poland.
Tatra chamois lives in all parts of the Tatras: West Tatras (Slovakia and Poland) and Eastern Tatras, which consist of the High Tatras (Slovakia and Poland) and the Belianske Tatras (Slovakia), all protected by national parks in both countries.
The population has undergone several bottoms and peaks in known history, with most noticeable bottoms during both world wars. Highest population in 20th century was recorded in year 1964, when as much as 940 individuals were counted in Slovak part of Tatras. But since then, the population declined steadily to the lowest recorded numbers in history at the end of the century. During years 1999-2000 numbers dropped below 200 individuals, which is considered critical population size for long-term survival of the subspecies.
A 5-year programme to save Tatra Chamois started in 2001, focusing on preserving chamois environment especially during mating season by strict regulation of tourism and suppressing of poaching. The programme was successful as population started to recover and after some 10 years even reached to highest numbers in recorded history.
As of 2006, the Slovak Tatra National Park was home to 371 chamois, of which 72 were lambs, and the Polish Tatra National Park was home to 117 chamois, of which 27 were lambs. As of 2010, a population recovered to 841 chamois, of which 74 were lambs, 699 (57 lambs) in Slovakia and 142 (17 lambs) in Poland, which is near to population peak of year 1964. Highest ever population was recorded in year 2014, when 1389 chamois were counted in Tatras.
Census results:
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Wikipedia