Chamois

Rupicapra rupicapra

The climber born with crampons on

Numbers

Weight: 100 lbadult males up to 110 lb, females 88-93 lb; Wikidata does not report values
Length: 55 inmale 51-59 in, female 41-49 in
Height: 35 inat the withers; male 33-36 in, female 28-31 in
Lifespan: 15 yearsup to 25 years in theory, very few exceed 21-22
Heart rate: 200 beats per minutesustained during climbs
Maximum observed altitude: 15600 ftsingle observation reported by Couturier
Red blood cells: 13 million per cubic millimeterrange 11-13 million

every year the horns add a growth ring, so counting these rings determines the age of the animal with good precision.
the outer sheath of one horn weighs just two and a half ounces, while that of an ibex can reach thirteen pounds.
the heart has very thick walls and maintains two hundred beats per minute while the animal climbs up the steepest mountain slopes.
between eleven and thirteen million red blood cells per cubic millimeter circulate in its blood, serving as an oxygen reserve at high altitude.
its diet includes at least three hundred different plant species, ranging from meadow grasses to needle leaves from evergreen trees.
from December to March, dry grass dug up from under the snow makes up fifty-six to ninety-three percent of its meals.
it has no upper incisors, possessing instead a hard pad of tissue against which it tears off blades of grass.
the dorsal ridge hair measures two to three inches in summer and reaches twelve inches during the autumn mating season.
an individual chamois was once observed at an altitude of 15,600 feet, not far from the peak of Mont Blanc.
by the end of the breeding season, adult male chamois can lose almost a third of their total body weight.

Five questions about this animal. Pick an answer and find out if it is the right one.

Question 1 of 5

What do the rings on the chamois's horns indicate?

Question 2 of 5

How many beats per minute can the heart of a chamois reach?

Question 3 of 5

How does the chamois keep from slipping on rocks?

Question 4 of 5

What does the chamois eat from December to March?

Question 5 of 5

What position does the chamois hold among caprines?

Experiment 1

Take a stopwatch and try clapping your hands two hundred times in one minute. That is the heart rate of a climbing chamois.

Experiment 2

Find a section of a cut tree trunk and count its rings. The horns of a chamois are read the exact same way, one ring per year.

Experiment 3

Place two and a half ounces of flour on a kitchen scale. That is the weight of one chamois horn sheath, compared to thirteen pounds for an ibex.