Trivia question for Oct-26-2011

Olivia came across these guys and learned that people used to use their soft leather for cleaning something which she felt was just wrong.  Lets see if you can figure out her trivia.   These guys are incredibly agile; able to scale apparently sheer rock faces in it mountainous habitat.

As their meat is considered tasty, they are popular game animals. They have two traits that are exploited by hunters. The first is that they are most active in the morning and evening when they feed. The second trait is that they tend to look for danger from below. This means that a hunter stalking one of these animals from above is less likely to be observed and more likely to be successful. The tuft of hair from the back of the neck, the gamsbart (“beard”), is traditionally worn as a decoration on hats throughout the alpine countries.

So here are Olivia’s questions:  Tell us what this animal is and what their hides were once commonly used for?  Also, groups of these animals have been observed repeatedly climbing snow slopes, can you tell us why?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations goes out to Becky Pugh from Atlanta GA for identifying the use for the skin from these animals.  The species we featured is the Chamois.  The chamois, is a goat-antelope species native to mountains in Europe, including the Carpathian Mountains of Romania, the European Alps, the Tatra Mountains, the Balkans, parts of Turkey, and the Caucasus. The chamois has also been introduced to the South Island of New Zealand. Some subspecies of chamois are strictly protected in the EU under the European Habitats Directive.

Chamois leather, traditionally made from the hide of the chamois, is very smooth and absorbent and is favored in cleaning and polishing because it produces no streaking. Modern chamois leather may be made from chamois hide, but hides of deer or domestic goats or sheep are commonly used.  Groups of Chamois often climb snow slopes, apparently for the fun of ‘sledding’ back down on their rumps.  Here is more on these fun-loving goats: Chamois

Thanks for playing along 😉