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CHAMOIS

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 827 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CHAMOIS , the Franco-Swiss name of an Alpine ruminant known in the See also:

German cantons as Gemse, and to naturalists as Rupicapra tragus or R. rupicapra tragus. It is the only See also:species of its genus, and typifies a subfamily, Rupicaprinae, of hollow-horned ruminants in some degree intermediate between antelopes and goats (see See also:ANTELOPE). About equal in height to a See also:roebuck, and with a See also:short See also:black tail, the chamois is readily distinguishable from all other ruminants by its See also:vertical, backwardly-hooked, black horns, which are See also:common to See also:males and See also:females, although smaller in the latter. Apart from black and See also:white See also:face-markings, and the black tail and dorsal stripe, the prevailing See also:colour of the Alpine chamois is See also:chestnut See also:brown in summer, but lighter and greyer in See also:winter. In the See also:Pyrenees the species is represented by a small See also:race locally known as the izard; a very brightly-coloured See also:form, R. t. See also:pitta, inhabits the See also:Apennines; the Carpathian chamois is very dark-coloured, and the one from the See also:Caucasus is the representative of yet another race. A thick under-See also:fur is See also:developed in the winter-coat, as in all other ruminants dwelling at high altitudes. Chamois are gregarious, living in herds of 15 or 20, and feeding generally in the See also:morning or evening. The old males, however, live alone except in the rutting See also:season, which occurs in See also:October, when they join the herds, See also:driving off the younger bucks, and engaging in fierce contests with each other, that often end fatally for one at least of the combatants. The See also:period of gestation is twenty See also:weeks, when the See also:female, beneath the shelter generally of a projecting See also:rock, produces one and sometimes two See also:young. In summer they ascend to the limits of perpetual See also:snow, being only exceeded in the loftiness of their haunts by the See also:ibex; and during that season they show their intolerance of See also:heat by choosing such browsing-grounds as have a See also:northern exposure. In winter they descend to the wooded districts that immediately succeed the region of glaciers, and it is there only they can be successfully hunted. Chamois are exceedingly shy; and their senses, especially those of sight and See also:smell, very acute.

The See also:

herd never feeds without having a See also:sentinel posted on some prominence to give See also:notice of the approach of danger; which is done by stamping on the ground with the forefeet, and uttering a shrill whistling See also:note, thus putting the entire herd on the alert. No sooner is the See also:object of alarm scented or seen than each one seeks safety in the most inaccessible situations, which are often reached by a See also:series of astounding leaps over crevasses, up the faces of seemingly perpendicular rocks, or down the sides of equally precipitous chasms. The. chamois will not hesitate, it is said, thus to leap down 20 or even 3o ft., and this it effects with apparent ease by throwing itself forward diagonally and striking its feet several times in its descent against the face of the rock. Chamois-See also:shooting is most successfully pursued when a number of hunters form a circle See also:round a favourite feeding ground, which they gradually narrow; the animals, scenting the hunters to windward, See also:fly in the opposite direction, only to encounter those coming from leeward. Chamois-See also:hunting, in spite of, or perhaps owing to the See also:great danger attending it, has always been a favourite pursuit among the See also:hardy mountaineers of See also:Switzerland and See also:Tirol, as well as of the See also:amateur sportsmen of all countries, with the result that the See also:animal is now comparatively rare in many districts where it was formerly common. Chamois feed in summer on See also:mountain-herbs and See also:flowers, and in winter chiefly on the young shoots and buds of See also:fir and See also:pine trees. They are particularly fond of See also:salt, and In the See also:Alps See also:sandstone rocks containing a saline impregnation are often met with hollowed by the See also:constant licking of these creatures. The skin of the chamois is very soft; made into See also:leather it was the See also:original shammy, which is new made, however, from the skins of many other animals. The flesh is prized as See also:venison. (R.

End of Article: CHAMOIS

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