It was in 2014 that the Ariège Pyrenees Regional Nature Park undertook an operation to reintroduce the Pyrenees ibex. Long-term operation which is a success: the population is now estimated at around 230 individuals, a sign that “the animals have adapted particularly well to their new environment”, it is estimated within the PNR.
But the scientific monitoring of the species has made it possible to highlight a particular phenomenon: if they regularly tread the cliffs and rocks of the Couseran mountains, the ibexes do not hesitate to frequent the caves and small cavities of the sector either. “They find security and natural air conditioning there during the summer, to escape the high heat, specify the agents of the PNR. This also allows them to shelter from insects, which are often very present in summer. And the females there protect their young goats from the disturbance of predators.”
Last year, the PNR equipped a cave with camera traps to try to elucidate the mystery of this behavior. The first images of ibexes in a cave environment have been captured:“the animals seem occupy the cave up to 15 meters from the entrance, in almost absolute darkness. Many scenes of life between mother and kid might be observed thanks to the cameras. The ibexes sometimes spend several hours in the cave, often during the hottest hours, but never at night. It also seems that the cave is not frequented in winter.
The camera traps have been repositioned to record other images to better understand this behavior specific to the ibex and to perhaps capture other new images!
