A young male Western Spanish Ibex aka Gredos Ibex, Capra pyrenaica victoriae, a subspecies of Iberian / Spanish Ibex, Capra pyrenaica, leaping over a stream between snow- covered rocks in Sierra de Gredos, Spain.
Ibexes are truly wild mountain goats. The subspecies living in the Sierra de Gredos was almost hunted to extinction until, in 1905, the King declared the Gredos a Royal Hunting Zone. Together with the disappearance of Wolves, the only natural predator of ibexes, the Gredos Ibexes soon returned to a healthy population.
This photo is copyright © Liz Leyden, all rights strictly as agreed in writing with the author or her agent.
