Chamois
Rupicapra rupicapra (Linnaeus, 1758)
The chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) is a mammal of the family Bovidae, subfamily Antilopinae and tribe Caprini, in the order Artiodactyla. It is a large, terrestrial, diurnal herbivore of mountain habitat, with a representative adult body mass of 26.1 kg and a highest reported value of 35.38 kg.
Quick facts about the chamois
The IUCN Red List assesses the chamois globally as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 26.1 kg – 35.4 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 17.6 years – 22 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- mountainsrc for Habitat
- Gestation
- 150 days – 213 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 22.1 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- By day (diurnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the chamois
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the chamois live?
Not recorded
What is the chamois?
The chamois (; French: [ʃamwa] ; Rupicapra rupicapra), or Alpine chamois, is a species of goat-antelope native to mountainous parts of Europe and Western Asia, from the Pyrenees and the Cantabrian Mountain Range, the Alps, the Apennines, the Dinarides, the Tatra to the Carpathian Mountains, the Balkan Mountains, the Rila–Rhodope massif, Pindus, the northeastern mountains of Turkey, and the Caucasus. It 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.
From the Wikipedia article “Chamois” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chamois&oldid=1375918773), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the chamois endangered?
The chamois is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the chamois classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderArtiodactyla
- familyBovidae
- genusRupicapra
- SpeciesRupicapra rupicapra (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Capra rupicapra, Capra rupricapra, Rupicapra rupicapra asiatica, Rupicapra tragus
Other names and names in other languages (79)
- (Pronounce: Sha-mee or Sham-wa)English
- Alpine chamoisEnglish
- Alpine chamoisEnglish
- Anatolian chamoisEnglish
- Asia minor chamoisEnglish
- Balkan chamoisEnglish
- Balkan chamoisEnglish
- Carpathian chamoisEnglish
- Caucasus chamoisEnglish
- Northern chamoisEnglish
- Northern chamoisEnglish
- Tatra chamoisEnglish
- Turkish chamoisEnglish
- شامواهArabic
- شامواه الألبArabic
- شامواه البلقانArabic
- شامواه شماليةArabic
- QarapaçaAzerbaijani
- Дива козаBulgarian
- ChamoezBreton
- IsardCatalan
- МасарChechen
- kamzík horskýCzech
- GamsGerman
- (Alpen-)GämseGerman
- AlpengämseGerman
- GämseGerman
- GamswildGerman
- ΑγριόγιδοGreek
- Ευρωπαϊκό ΑγριόγιδοGreek
- AgriogidoGreek
- ĈamoEsperanto
- GamuzaSpanish
- Gamuza SeptentrionalSpanish
- RebecoSpanish
- Rebeco alpinoSpanish
- Rebeco septentrionalSpanish
- SarrioBasque
- gemssiFinnish
- Chamois des AlpesFrench
- ChamouèsArpitan
- RebezoGalician
- DivokozaCroatian
- zergeHungarian
- ChamoIdo
- Camoscio alpinoItalian
- Camoscio settentrionaleItalian
- シャモアJapanese
- არჩვიGeorgian
- ТаукиікKazakh
- 샤무아Korean
- 알프스산양Korean
- Гьинтаlbe
- GemzėLithuanian
- GemseNorwegian Bokmål
- GemsDutch
- KozicaPolish
- Kozica (tatrzańska)Polish
- Kozica północnaPolish
- چاموعزWestern Panjabi
- CamurçaPortuguese
- Camurça-europeiaPortuguese
- Capra neagrăRomanian
- Capră neagrăRomanian
- СернаRussian
- северная серна (severnaya serna)Russian
- kamzíkSlovak
- kamzík vrchovskýSlovak
- KamoshiAlbanian
- ДивокозаSerbian
- дивокоза (divokoza)Serbian
- alpgetSwedish
- stengetSwedish
- Çengel boynuzlu dağ keçisiTurkish
- Кыр кечUdmurt
- Козиця звичайнаUkrainian
- CamoržVenetian
- ერსქემიMingrelian
- 臆羚Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List
Relatives of the chamois
Other species in the same genus Rupicapra.
Abruzzo chamois
Rupicapra pyrenaica
Asia minor chamois
Rupicapra asiatica
Carpathian chamois
Rupicapra carpatica
Abruzzi chamois
Rupicapra ornata
CompareChamois vs Abruzzo chamoisChamois vs Asia minor chamoisChamois vs Carpathian chamoisChamois vs Abruzzi chamois
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the chamois?
The chamois is a mammal of the family Bovidae, in the tribe Caprini and the order Artiodactyla.
How heavy is a chamois?
Our sources give a representative adult body mass of 26.1 kg, with a highest reported value of 35.38 kg.
What does the chamois eat?
The chamois is a herbivore.
Is the chamois endangered?
No. The IUCN Red List assesses it globally as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
How long does a chamois live?
Our sources give a lifespan of 17.6 years, with a highest reported value of 22 years.
How many young does a chamois have?
The chamois has 1 young per litter and 1 litter per year, after a gestation period of 149.7 days.
When does a chamois reach sexual maturity?
It reaches sexual maturity at 1.8 years, with reported values from 669 to 674 days.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/chamois
“Chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/chamois.
@misc{chamois_2026,
title = {Chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/chamois},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}