Chamois skin

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Gamsfell on the Moarhofalm in the Preuneggtal, Styria, Austria

The chamois skin , also chamois skin , chamois skin or chamois blanket , of the chamois occurring in the mountains of Europe and the Near East, has no economic significance as a skin. A hat ornament, the so-called chamois beard , is made from the long hair on the spine .

The homeland of the chamois is from the west of the Pyrenees to Asia Minor ( Anatolia ) and in the east of the Caucasus .

The IUCN , International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources , lists the chamois as Least Concern, with regional and subspecies restrictions. The subspecies of the Abruzzo chamois , which has probably always been rare, is strictly protected by the Washington Convention and the EC Regulation 750/2013, Appendix A. The maximum protection has existed since June 28, 1979; The Abruzzo chamois has been particularly protected under the Federal Nature Conservation Act since August 31, 1980. It was first listed under national law on June 12, 1913.

Coat structure, coat quality

Adult chamois have a head body length of 110 to 130 centimeters. The length of the pointed ears is about half the length of the head. The legs are relatively long.

The pelts have a typically deer hair-like, coarse top coat (according to Toldt : dense, and therefore typically “relatively delicate”); the woolen hair barely reaches the length of the top hair. The upper and lower hair has a fine curl or curl. In summer the fur has dense, wavy but short guard hairs (up to 3 centimeters long on the body). From autumn it has a dense undercoat and much longer guard hairs (10 to 12 on the body, mane-like up to 20 centimeters along the backbone, 25 centimeters long on bucks). The long hair on the back of the winter coat, the "Gamsbart", consists mainly of guide hairs; these gradually diminish towards the sides of the back, while the woolly and guard hairs become predominant.

The hair change happens gradually and inconspicuously, it seems uncertain whether it will take place more than once a year, there may also be autumn hardening, which may only affect part of the hair. The winter hair is shed from April, at the same time the formation of the summer fur (awns) begins. The hair change reaches its peak in May and is completed in June, for animals with poor condition in July. In August, the woolly hair begins to grow, then the guard hairs push in. Their growth does not stop until December.

According to G. Stroh , the lifespan or the presence of hair in the summer hair blanket is approximately 3½ months; of which about 2 months fall on the growing hair (papilla stage), and 1½ months on the fully grown hair (piston stage). In the case of the much longer winter coat hair, the corresponding times are 8 ½ months or 2 ½ and 6. The duration of the piston stage of the winter wool hair was calculated to be about 6 ½ months. The autumn change does not occur with the long hair along the spine line; So they remain for a whole year (duration of the papilla and piston hair stage approximately each 6 months). The periods of time vary somewhat, depending on the respective weather conditions.

The best hides fall in December and January.

Coat color

There are no differences between the skins of female and male chamois, but the seasonal difference is considerable. The color change occurs through the hair change, not through a change in the hair pigments. In summer the fur is light reddish brown with a black, 3 to 4 centimeter wide eel line. There is a black or gray-brown stripe on both sides of the yellow belly. The legs are dark, the face is yellow to whitish with a dark mask mark. In winter the fur is black-brown and the face is black and white in contrast. The back of the thighs is white, the tail on the underside and at the tip black. Hunters distinguish the large, dark brown forest animal from the smaller, reddish brown grattier . The “hoop”, the light tip of the hair, which is highly valued by the Gamsbart, is the same length despite the different hair lengths from summer to winter hair, as the backbone hair only grows back and, as mentioned, only changes once a year in spring.

A color mutation of the chamois, which is essentially restricted to Styria and has been documented there since the 16th century , is called Kohlgams . It is characterized by the fact that the otherwise light underside, throat and cheek areas are darkly colored, with the forehead and inner ears retaining their usual light coloring.

Fur use

Traditional hat with chamois beard

The fur is described as "woolly and warm", apart from the hard guard hair. Rugs and collars are made from the winter blankets (skins), straps from the summer blankets.

The so-called chamois beards are tied from the long hair of the mane on the back, a traditional hat ornament that belongs to the costume and is common in parts of Austria and Old Bavaria, and is now worn occasionally by women. Usually the longer winter hair is used for this.

The French and English name "chamois" for the chamois gave the name for chamois leather (also chamois leather, English: "Shammy"), a fine and soft leather that was made from chamois hides, later from sheep and other hides.

In 1762 it was said about the chamois skin: “Generally they cannot serve the furrier for anything other than footbags”.

Even if their fur is rarely used, the chamois has always been heavily hunted. A natural history in pictures from the 1820s explains: “You should already know the chamois hunters by their bold facial features, and the love of hunting is passed on from father to son, even if everyone knows that sooner or later all his ancestors broke their necks . Usually they are shot with rifles when they change, when they go out for the evening or when they return to their places under almost inaccessible rocky slopes in the morning. Their meat is valued and their skin is made into gloves and the like. The value of a shot chamois is calculated on a Carolin ”.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ www.iucnredlist.org: Rupicapra rupicapra . Last accessed March 15, 2015.
  2. ↑ www.wisia.de: Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata . Retrieved March 15, 2015.
  3. ↑ a b c K. Toldt, Innsbruck: Structure and natural coloration of the hair coat of wild mammals . Publisher German Society for Small Animal and Fur Breeding, Leipzig 1935, pp. 19, 77, 87, 101, 134, 226.
  4. ↑ a b c Heinrich Dathe , Paul Schöps, with the collaboration of 11 specialist scientists: Pelztieratlas . VEB Gustav Fischer Verlag Jena, 1986, pp. 298-299.
  5. ↑ G. Straw: The coat and the hair change of the chamois . Jahrbuch für Jagdkunde, 5, Neudamm 1921. Secondary source K. Toldt, p. 66.
  6. ↑ G. Niethammer: The Kohlgams the Alps In: Journal of Hunting Science , March 1967
  7. ^ Chandler B. Beach: The New Student's Reference Work . FE Compton and Company, Chicago 1914, p. 356.
  8. ↑ The Kirschner . In: JS Halle: Workshops for today's arts , Berlin 1762, see p. 312
  9. ↑ D. Strack: Natural history in pictures , XI. Notebook. Publishing house of the lithographic institute Arnz & Co., Düsseldorf, approx. 1820–1826. Keyword “Geisirsch. Antelope. 2. The Gems ”.

See also