Welcome to the website of the IUCN Caprinae Specialist Group
The Caprinae Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature is a network of volunteer experts working on the the ecology, behavior, taxonomy, conservation and management of wild Caprinae (wild sheep, goats, goats-antelopes, muskox and allies) from around the world. We aim to promote the conservation of Caprinae and their habitat, promote research on all aspects of Caprinae biology, including the conservation of mountain ecosystems, and provide advice on the biology and conservation of Caprinae to governments, NGOs and researchers.
Photo by By H.Sels (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons]
News from the Caprinae world
January 2021
THE NEW ISSUE OF "CAPRINAE NEWS" IS ONLINE, CHECK IT OUT HERE OR IN THE NEWSLETTER SECTION!
THE NEW ISSUE OF "CAPRINAE NEWS" IS ONLINE, CHECK IT OUT HERE OR IN THE NEWSLETTER SECTION!
Stay tuned for the forthcoming 8th World Mountain Ungulate Conference in Italy!
After the 7th edition was held in Bozeman, Montana (USA) in 2019, the next World Conference on Mountain Ungulates will return to Europe to the beautiful landscape of the Italian Alps. The next conference has been planned for September 2022 and will take place in Cogne (Aosta, Italy) at the border of Gran Paradiso National Park.
Gran Paradiso National Park is one of the oldest protected areas in Europe and has had a primary role in the recovery and conservation of the Alpine ibex. In the XIX century, the Alpine ibex was on the brink of extinction due to over-hunting. The only remnant population at the time consisted of less than one hundred individuals and was found on the massif of Gran Paradiso. The area was declared a Royal Hunting Reserve in 1856 by Vittorio Emanuele II and hunting was forbidden. Thanks to protection laws and active surveillance the Alpine ibex was saved from extinction. The hunting reserve of Gran Paradiso was finally donated to the Italian state and declared as a National Park in 1922. In the following years, a huge conservation effort with several reintroduction programs brought back the Alpine ibex to its original range encompassing an alpine arc with a count of more than 50,000 individuals distributed in c. 180 populations. Although a long time has passed since the initiation of the Alpine ibex recovery, it is still one of the most successful conservation stories worldwide.
Since the beginning, the conservation and management of the Alpine ibex have been accompanied by a deep interest of the scientific community to employ the species as a model for the investigation of a broad range of questions, both theoretical and applied to conservation and management. This has allowed the establishment of a virtuous circle that integrates scientific research into conservation and management and, in our opinion, acts as a model for other species.
Over time, it has become clear that as research and technology move on and knowledge accumulates, new questions arise while researchers and managers face exciting and urgent challenges. To answer these questions a narrow research perspective is no longer sufficient, rather a multidisciplinary approach is required. We believe that this is valid not only for the Alpine ibex but also for other ungulate species, spread all over the mountain ranges in the world, and it is with this aim that we are pleased to organize this conference.
The Gran Paradiso National Park will host the Conference as part of the celebrations for its 100th anniversary of the foundation and we will be pleased to welcome researchers, students, wildlife managers, government agencies, NGOs, hunting associations and anyone else interested in mountain ungulates from all over the world.
As in the spirit of past editions, the aim of the 8th Conference on Mountain Ungulates, will be to share the most recent and interesting results of mountain ungulate research and provide opportunities to network with researchers and wildlife managers from the mountain ungulate community. Several topics will be covered, including ecology, behavior, genetics, systematics, palaeontology, pathology, conservation and management, with the ambitious aim of enhancing the integration of different research fields and connecting them with management and conservation.
More details on the conference will be spread via the newsletter of the IUCN/SSC Caprinae Specialist Group as well as through other media. The provisional schedule includes the following timeline:
First call: September 2021
Registration date/Abstract submission: October 2021-March 2022
Final conference programme: June 2022
Conference date: September 2022
Gran Paradiso National Park is one of the oldest protected areas in Europe and has had a primary role in the recovery and conservation of the Alpine ibex. In the XIX century, the Alpine ibex was on the brink of extinction due to over-hunting. The only remnant population at the time consisted of less than one hundred individuals and was found on the massif of Gran Paradiso. The area was declared a Royal Hunting Reserve in 1856 by Vittorio Emanuele II and hunting was forbidden. Thanks to protection laws and active surveillance the Alpine ibex was saved from extinction. The hunting reserve of Gran Paradiso was finally donated to the Italian state and declared as a National Park in 1922. In the following years, a huge conservation effort with several reintroduction programs brought back the Alpine ibex to its original range encompassing an alpine arc with a count of more than 50,000 individuals distributed in c. 180 populations. Although a long time has passed since the initiation of the Alpine ibex recovery, it is still one of the most successful conservation stories worldwide.
Since the beginning, the conservation and management of the Alpine ibex have been accompanied by a deep interest of the scientific community to employ the species as a model for the investigation of a broad range of questions, both theoretical and applied to conservation and management. This has allowed the establishment of a virtuous circle that integrates scientific research into conservation and management and, in our opinion, acts as a model for other species.
Over time, it has become clear that as research and technology move on and knowledge accumulates, new questions arise while researchers and managers face exciting and urgent challenges. To answer these questions a narrow research perspective is no longer sufficient, rather a multidisciplinary approach is required. We believe that this is valid not only for the Alpine ibex but also for other ungulate species, spread all over the mountain ranges in the world, and it is with this aim that we are pleased to organize this conference.
The Gran Paradiso National Park will host the Conference as part of the celebrations for its 100th anniversary of the foundation and we will be pleased to welcome researchers, students, wildlife managers, government agencies, NGOs, hunting associations and anyone else interested in mountain ungulates from all over the world.
As in the spirit of past editions, the aim of the 8th Conference on Mountain Ungulates, will be to share the most recent and interesting results of mountain ungulate research and provide opportunities to network with researchers and wildlife managers from the mountain ungulate community. Several topics will be covered, including ecology, behavior, genetics, systematics, palaeontology, pathology, conservation and management, with the ambitious aim of enhancing the integration of different research fields and connecting them with management and conservation.
More details on the conference will be spread via the newsletter of the IUCN/SSC Caprinae Specialist Group as well as through other media. The provisional schedule includes the following timeline:
First call: September 2021
Registration date/Abstract submission: October 2021-March 2022
Final conference programme: June 2022
Conference date: September 2022
