clashing horns

It is a long time I do not post anything in this gallery... But here it comes a picture.

The Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) is the symbol of Gran Paradiso National Park (GPNP), in Italy, where the only original population of this species survived at the end of nineteen Century, with few tens of individuals. Since then, the ibex population at GPNP grew up to a few thousand individuals, and ibex was introduced in other alpine areas of Italy, France, Switzerland and Germany.

From mid November to mid December, male ibex fight with each other for hours, clashing their horns, to establish the hierarchy for reproduction. In this period, the characteristic sound of the horn clash fills the high mountains where the ibex live.

This picture was taken yesterday, during a light snowfall, at Valnontey, one of the valleys of GPNP. Nikon FX, Nikkor 24-70. The large version provides more detail.