The Trophy
Horns are present in both sexes. The horns of bucks are
heavy, wavy, and a lot longer than the female goats. They
usually grow vertically upwards, then outwards, further
backwards and inwards in a heteronymous twist (the left
horn forms a right twisted spiral and the right horn, within
a weak front keel and a sharp rear keel. Older bucks show
a relatively small gap between the horns at the base,
of which one is rarely more than 1 cm. Horn shape and
growth (length and thickness) are variable and rather an
expression of phenotypic deformation due to environmental influences, than a taxonomic criterion. Examples
for 4 main specifications of horn are: Airplane-shaped,
Ibex-shaped, Sheep-shaped and Lyre-shaped ( g. 12-B).
These can be found in each population, and also within the
same flock. With Spanish ibexes, extremely large trophies
usually grow in the Sheep-shaped form. The thin horns
of the female goats show no slope, are rear-facing, tend
to have opposite points bending inward and are almost
smooth.
