Steinbock

[little_sunset_dolphin]

I have never been able to find a word for the animal Steinbock in English. I don't mean the Zodiac sign Capricorn, but the actual animal living in the mountains. I can't attempt to translate it because I have nothing to go from, but I do know there are animals in the Rocky Mountains called Mountain Goats and Mountain Sheep and Bighorn Sheep... but I'm so confused with what each of them is and whether any of them define Steinbock.

 

[Robocop]

Steinbock = ibex (wild goat of mountain areas of Eurasia and northern Africa having large recurved horns)

 

[little_sunset_dolphin]

What about the ones in North America?

 

[berndf]

Der (Rocky) Mountain Goat heisst in Deutsch Schneeziege. Sie gehören beide zur Unterfamilie Caprinae. Hier der Link auf die englishe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat-antelope) und die deutsche (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziegenartige) Wikipedia Seite für Caprinae. Jeweils mit einer Auflistung aller Gattungen und Arten dieser Unterfamilie.

 

[Ralf]

In the Sierra Nevada region of California I came across the term of Big Horn (Sheep) (also spelled Bighorn). Pictures in booklets of several National Parks showed an animal that instantly reminded me of something I would have referred to as "Steinbock" in German. But then, I'm just a lousy amateur when it comes to zoology ....

Ralf

 

[sokol]

Wiki lists the Steinbock as Alpine Ibex - and the national varieties of the names for this animal.

The problem is: the species does not live in English speaking countries and is not so well-known there that they already would have adopted one of the native names for it. Therefore no 'real' equivalent in English seems to exists - except for the Latin name, of course, and the 'translation' of that one into (Alpine) Ibex.

(Note for example that the giraffe, also not native to the English speaking countries except for some former colonies has a 'native' English name - a borrowed one certainly, but a well integrated loan; in the case of the Steinbock this seems not to be the case. And all the American species who are similar in appearence are not an ibex, of course - they're another species.)