Two Nubien ibex battle it out

ZIN VALLEY, NEGEV DESERT :: ISRAEL

For Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana), late summer to early fall marks the start of the breeding season, or rut, when males within a herd compete for the right to mate. In fierce contests, rivals rear onto their hind legs and ram their heads together in explosive clashes. The force can be immense: Sometimes, the impact is strong enough to break their massive, backward-curving horns, which can grow up to 4 ft. long. Ultimately, only one goat wins.

I’d always wanted to witness this behavior in the wild, and one morning in early October 2022, I finally got my chance. After waking at sunrise to search for these desert dwellers, which are incredibly agile and adapted to life in the steep clifftops of Zin Valley, I spotted these two already locked in combat. Moving carefully, I hiked toward them until I was just 10 ft. away. Luckily, they were too absorbed in their battle to notice me.

Using a wide-angle lens, I positioned my camera at just above eye-level, capturing the sweeping valley behind them as they crashed together again and again. For nearly 15 minutes, they sparred while I snapped away.

Then, in a brief pause between strikes, the scene aligned in my viewfinder: two powerful ibex silhouetted in the golden morning light, the valley stretching out behind them. I knew I had the shot. When the contest finally ended, the losing male retreated without serious injury, while the victor walked away with a “shot” of his own: a chance at finding a mate.