From Ibex in a wild setting to Ibex in a greatly altered environment, friend Heinz de Chelard has contributed the following photograph and text for comparison.

“Alpine Ibex climbing the wall of Cingino Dam in northern Italy may be seen by some as a demonstration of the strength and agility of ‘mountain goats’ as they search for salts released by the curing of concrete grout between the stones. Lingering on this image, though, brings the viewer to a more troubling question as to why the Ibex climb? Could it be that as it is, now, for every creature, every organism on Earth, they must adapt to the environment created by man, for man, or become extinct?  Have these Ibex lost an essential source of mineral salts as thousands of square metres of their cliff-face homes now lie drowned by waters that once ran free, and no doubt supported an entire ecosystem that no longer exists? As the human population surges past eight billion, will any plant or animal be left alone to live the life it evolved to live without being impacted somehow by our relentless and destructive drive for economic growth?”

Heinz de Chelard