At Ein Gedi, male ibexes lock horns for females’ attention
Dramatic photos from Judean Desert show animals going to head-to-head as part of reproduction ritual
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Male Nubian ibexes in the Ein Gedi nature reserve were locking horns as their female counterparts entered their annual reproductive cycle.
Photographs show the mammals rolling in the dust of the Judean Desert and leaping in the air in the fight over female mates in their Estrous Cycle.
Practically extinct in the 1970s, ibexes were saved by Israel’s nature conservation organizations and today large herds flourish throughout the desert regions.
There an estimated 1,200 ibexes remaining across the Middle East and parts of Africa.
Grown-up males have thick curved horns over a meter long while the females’ horns are noticeably smaller. With younger ibexes, the base of the horn indicates their sex, for male horns are thicker than those of the female.
The Times of Israel Community.