Fattori di variazione della crescita del corno del camoscio (Rupicapra rupicapra rupicapra) in provincia di Belluno.

Alpine chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra rupicapra) is a Bovid that lives in mountains, prealpine and alpine horizon and often related to rocks and rugged hills. According to the 157/92 law, Alpine chamois can be legally hunted; hunters research best trophies. The objective of this thesis was to investigate on factors which influence horn size, and particularly the focus of this investigation was on the correlation between trophy dimension and the weight of chamois. Also the development of trophy by sex, age class and by different environmental conditions was considered. The study was based on 412 animals hunted in 2009 in the Belluno’s Province. We measured the empty weight, the length and the base circumference of the right horn for each chamois. The findings showed that the most important factors of horns size are sex, and age classes (as expected), geographic area, and empty weight analyzed as covariate within classes of age and sex. We observed that better habitats allow the chamois to have longer horns, probably thanks to better alimentation. We verified also that there is a correlation between empty weight and horns length, but only in the yearling class. For older chamois, this correlation disappears thanks to a compensatory growth. All sources of variations had the same effects on base circumference as on length. Our results suggest that selection of best trophies in chamois is limited by the small variability of this trait and is unlikely to result in an artificial selection.