D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
June 2010
Prince of Persia
The ibex, known for its magnificent horns, thrives better in the Florida Mountains near Deming than in its native Iran.
By Marjorie Lilly Photos by Dennis Kauffman
The closest Dennis Kauffman ever got to an ibex was years ago when he was sitting on a mound of stones in the Florida Mountains eating lunch. One came running down a path toward the hunter and stopped four or five feet from him. "His beard swung in the wind," Kauffman recalls. It sprang away as quickly as it burst into view.
 |
A couple of words used over and over again to describe ibex are "elusive" and "agile." Hunters and researchers rarely get closer than 1,000 feet from them and they're seen much better with the help of binoculars.
"Most animals when you chase them take the path of least resistance," says Deming hunter Steve Borden, "but ibex go straight up and down. They go to the roughest part of the mountain."
The ibex — a type of wild goat — take naturally to steep rock faces with what Kauffman's outfitting-business partner Cecil Haas calls their "flypaper feet." Ibex feel safer from predators in the high peaks and can leap about 20 feet upward on cliffs with ease, according to those who know them.
The Florida Mountains near Deming are the only place in the US where Persian ibex roam freely. They were stocked there in 1970 under the leadership of the then-director of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, Dr. Frank C. Hibbens, who was a safari enthusiast. They were a gift of a provincial governor in Iran.
A handful of ibex at first were brought to the Floridas for hunters in the winter hunting season. Their numbers have since stabilized at 400-450 under Game and Fish management.
When foreign species were brought into New Mexico, their first stop was the Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque. "The parent stock by law have to be kept in a containment facility, in this case at the Albuquerque zoo, under quarantine," explains V.W. Howard, professor emeritus of wildlife science at New Mexico State University. "You can do anything with the offspring." Offspring of the original transplants were transferred to Game and Fish's Red Rock facility near Lordsburg.
In December 1970, 15 ibex were put in large crates at Red Rock and transported in trailers to Deming. On Dec. 8, helicopters ferried the ibex to a ridge at the middle of the range, near Mahoney Park.
Howard was one of about 20 people who assisted in the release. "There were press people. It was a big deal," he recalls. He was lowered from the helicopter to unsnap the slings that held the crates. "They were released at the lowest point in the mountains because helicopters couldn't go any higher. It was before we had jet helicopters." Six more releases were made over the next months, for a total of 73 ibex.
The ibex took well to the Floridas, a small mountain chain reaching 7,434 feet high, rising dramatically about 2,500 feet from the desert floor. With the "Little Floridas" to the north, the chain is 15 miles long and almost five miles wide at its widest point. Its many rugged granite peaks seem to be made just for ibex.
Ibex are often confused with oryx. Their names sound alike but they're very different. Oryx are large, straight-horned African-origin beasts that can be found in the White Sands Missile Range. Ibex are small goats with scimitar-shaped horns that look too massive for their bodies.
The ibex in the Floridas are not true ibex. In the same way, true antelopes live in Africa and the ones in the US are really pronghorns. Our ibex are "Persian wild goats," says Howard. They're believed to be the predecessor of all domestic goats.
They're distinguishable from true ibex in ways hard for laymen to perceive. The genuine ibex's horns are flat in front, while our male wild goats' horns are V-shaped in front, "keeled" like the keel of a ship. True ibex also tend to have more prominent ridges on their horns. They come mostly from more northerly climates in the European Alps, Siberia and elsewhere. Wild goats live in a swathe of territory from Turkey to Pakistan.
Ibex and wild goats are two separate species and do not interbreed, but are both of the genus Capra. Wild goats are also called pasang or bezoar goats. Their scientific name is Capra aegagrus.
The horns of the male ibex are their glory. The horns start growing at the age of one month and keep growing the ibex' whole life, which is usually 10 to 12 years. The largest set of horns recorded by Safari Club International was taken in the Floridas and measure 59 inches, almost five feet long. The largest set taken in Iran measure 55 inches. The longest female horns studied were only 13 inches long.
 |
The horns of billies found in the Floridas are often broken, mostly in fights during mating season. Ibex have been known to hang themselves in the branches of trees when climbing in them to eat leaves. In the Floridas they sometimes wear off the ridges on their horns, or even break off some of the horns when they rake them against prickly pear cactus or other plants.
The average seven-year-old billy weighs about 200 pounds and is just two and a half feet tall at the shoulders. The nanny is much smaller, weighing only about a third of that, or 66 pounds. Kids are born with an average weight of 6.6 pounds — "about the size of a cat," Kauffman says.
The babies are born around May, under the protective care of their mothers. Howard has seen "nursery areas" of them, where "one or two or three nannies take care of 20 or 30 babies. I sneaked up on them to see them," he says. Kauffman once saw a mother running with her baby underneath her, to protect it from an eagle.
The kids are very playful, chasing each other and running. "They drop 20 feet to a ledge below and run off without hurting themselves," he says. Observers claim that within a couple of days the kids can go just about anywhere an adult can.
Ibex take to the cliffs to protect themselves and are very watchful. "They have very good ears and keen scent but they rely on their eyes for safety," says Kauffman. "They have seven-power vision compared to us. Their eyes are bulbous on the side of their head, so they can see behind them."
The nannies make what is sometimes called an "alert snort" when they sense danger. It's a nasal squawk that calls the herd together or warns them to move on. Howard says it sounds something like a cough, it's so abrupt.
They drink surprisingly little water, although there are several springs in the Floridas. Most of their water is from leaves they eat, especially the silvery mountain mahogany shrubs on the cliff faces, as well as scrub oaks and Wright's silk tassel. They actually thrive better in New Mexico than they do in their native Iran.
In the 1981-82 hunting season, one of these New Mexico goats was shot by graduate biology student Wayne Woodruff and then sent to the Smithsonian Institution. It was then stuffed for a diorama that traces the development of modern goats. In the late 1980s about 25 of the ibex were captured live in the Floridas and sent to the Los Angeles Zoo.
Spring Canyon Park, near Rockhound Park southeast of Deming, is the most accessible place to glimpse a few ibex with the naked eye in the summer. Some people see dozens of them at a time with binoculars, in herds or in long braids winding down a rock face.
They're a stirring sight as they peer over the top of the large cliff at the right of the trail in Spring Canyon, with their majestic horns in silhouette. They go to this high point at night to be safe from predatory mountain lions while they sleep. "They feel most secure in the cliffiest part of the mountains," says Kauffman. Sometimes families of them, adults and kids, can be seen traipsing along the central mountain ridge.
There are other places in the Floridas to see ibex, such as Mahoney Peak and the Capitol Dome, both on the west side, but you would have to ask around town for special permission to access these areas.
Dusk and early dawn are virtually the only times ibex can be seen in Spring Canyon. It's important to be quiet when walking there, so the ibex don't get spooked.