Milam Glacier where Ibex fights for social dominance Chander P Mahajan I wonder if places of worship and foreheads of dwellings are adorned with symbols of strength like horns of ibex. Kishan Singh Marthulia of Mialm, somehow, advocates the belief with horns of ibex hung at the top of his dwelling. He serves people with the delicacies. ’Males often fight with other males to determine who can breed with the females.’ He tells. Despite the large horns of the animals, it’s rare for males to sustain serious damage from fights. o The animal’s horns keep growing throughout their life. The ibex does not make a good pet as it does not have the usual traits of a domestic goat. o The animals are quite large with large horns and are not particularly friendly. These animals can live up to 20 years in the wild. o These animals typically socialize in gender-specific herds. This means that there are male herds and female herds. o The male herds are often called bachelor herds. The legend goes that the two herds only meet up during breeding seasons. o The breeding season for these animals starts in late autumn to early winter. The males leave their bachelor herds to find females.
Situated 60 kms from a base camp at Minusiyari Milam is the largest glacier of Kumaon. It is one of the remotest yet accessible glaciers of Uttarakhand. The Glacier is the source of the Gori Ganga River which acts as an important tributary of the Kali River and is a major glacier of the Kumaon Himalaya, the largest in Uttarakhand.