Alpine chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra)

Native to central Europe’s alpine region, they look more like antelope than their goat relatives. Both sexes have distinctive backward-curving horns, and a black band that runs from the base of each ear across the eye to the nose. Their coats are a brownish-fawn in summer, darkening to brown-black in winter.

Chamois are found in a wide range of habitats – including alpine bluffs, alpine grasslands/herbfields, subalpine shrublands and forest – preferring steep areas. Females and young form loose, unstable groups; males are mostly solitary. They are found throughout the South Island high country.

Tahr and chamois were introduced to this country in the early days of European settlement for sport – to create a hunting resource for residents and tourists. Both animals have found the Southern Alps of the South Island ideal habitat and are only only found on the South Island of New Zealand.

Chamois eat a similar diet to tahr, but prefer more woody plants, particularly native brooms (Carmichaelia spp.), and herbs such as the Mount Cook lily (Ranunculus lyallii). Both animals are a major threat to the sensitive ecosystems of alpine regions, as their social nature increases pressure in localised areas.

Chamois were released near Aoraki/Mt Cook in 1907 and again in 1914 – a gift from the Emperor Franz Josef of Austria – also for sport-hunting. They quickly adapted and expanded north and south along the length of the Southern Alps. They have spread much further than tahr, but seem to avoid areas where tahr are found in significant numbers.

Chamois spread so rapidly throughout the Southern Alps that control was necessary within 25 years of their introduction. Government control began in the 1930s but it wasn’t until commercial aerial hunting for overseas markets began during the mid 1960s that numbers began to drop significantly.

Why are they a problem? New Zealand’s native plants evolved during 80 million years of isolation without any large mammal browsers. Herding browsers such as tahr and chamois cause two-fold damage; firstly by eating native plants; secondly by trampling large areas of vegetation and compactable soils, when herds of animals gather together.

What is being done?

Eradication of tahr and chamois is not feasible; The Department of Conservation’s management policy for tahr is to control numbers in critical sites of high conservation value. Recreational and commercial hunters as well as the Department contribute to thar control.

Today there is no national management programme for controlling chamois, but they are taken as a secondary target during localised goat or thar control programmes. In Kahurangi National Park and southern regions, they are trying to slow chamois migration into new areas.