West Caucasian tur
Capra caucasica
Seen by the oracleIts power
Its hooves have a hard edge and a soft centre. They grip the rock like climbing shoes.
Estimated wild population
About 3,000
Trend
Declining
Range
Western Caucasus (Russia / Georgia)
Main threat
Hunting and poaching, competition with livestock, spreading farmland, war and political instability in the region
Meet it
It really exists. It is waiting for you at the Parc Animalier d’Auvergne.
The West Caucasian tur is a big, agile wild goat found only in the Greater Caucasus mountains. It lives on steep rocky ground between 1,000 and 4,000 metres above sea level, and can leap with amazing precision onto almost vertical rock faces. It mostly lives in groups of only males or only females, which come together for the mating season in November and December, when the males have spectacular fights. Its wild population is estimated at about 3,000 and keeps falling because of poaching, competition for food with livestock, and political instability in the region.
What the Park does
Caucasus Nature Reserve, scientific monitoring programmes