Luca Melcarne's Image

Luca Melcarne (France) makes the most of his mountain guide skills to reveal the fascinating lives of Alpine animals.

Every full Moon, Luca is drawn to the Vercors Regional Natural Park. The Sun was setting when he reached the east-facing ridge where he knew the Alpine ibex would spend the night. It wasn’t rutting season, so Luca was surprised when two rival males began competing on the cliff edge.

Luca quickly positioned himself to frame the action with the Moon directly behind - a few minutes later and it would have risen too high. With perfect timing, he captured the head-to-head drama, silhouetted against soft moonlight.

Equipped with heavily ridged, scimitar‑shaped horns that can grow to be almost a metre long, male ibex try to avoid physical conflict. Instead they intimidate opponents by holding their heads high or walking in parallel, tipping their horns towards each other. But these males were too well matched and a fierce, head-butting fight ensued to decide who would claim dominance.