A resident of Canillas de Aceituno documents once again the nocturnal incursions of wild goats in the upper part of the urban area, at the foot of La Maroma. The animals, named Duke and Spirit, come down in search of vegetation and tranquility.
The wild goats have returned to descend at dawn into the urban area of Canillas de Aceituno, in the Alta Axarquía, to feed on the vegetation that grows near the houses. The scene, according to Diario Sur, has been captured again by resident Rocío Ortiz García, an enthusiast of photographing the nature of her municipality, who has been following the incursions of several specimens in the upper area of the town for two summers.
The most recognisable to her remains Duke, a large male goat that has been observed since the summer of 2025. In one of the latest appearances, the animal arrived accompanied by another younger specimen. Ortiz describes how the adult passed by one of the trees where it usually feeds and stopped to wait while the second approached.
“It stopped suddenly, upright, with its gaze fixed in the dim light, and waited patiently”
The young specimen ended up approaching the mulberry tree where Duke had browsed in previous visits. The resident interprets the adult's movements as a form of vigilance and learning for the smaller one, although there is no scientific confirmation of the relationship between the two animals.
Days earlier, Ortiz also filmed Spirit, the name she gave last summer to another young specimen that began to accompany the adults around Convento Street and its surroundings. On this occasion, she found it feeding near the so-called Cueva Millón, while another male remained in an elevated position.
“Being able to witness these sequences is an ephemeral gift that nature grants only to those who know how to observe in silence”
Canillas de Aceituno is located at the foothills of the Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama natural park, a space of over 40,000 hectares spread between Málaga and Granada. The Junta de Andalucía states that these sierras are one of the main hotspots for wild goats and that the species is undergoing a phase of expansion in the area. La Maroma, at 2,069 meters above sea level, is the highest point of the natural park and the province of Málaga. The presence of this species led to the creation of the Tejeda and Almijara National Hunting Reserve in 1973.
The visits to the urban area reflect the boundary between the Axarquía village and the mountain. The Junta recommends not feeding wildlife or leaving food scraps that may attract them to inhabited areas, a practice aimed at preventing animals from altering their natural behaviour patterns.
The municipality, with barely 1,900 registered inhabitants, already recorded similar incursions last July, when the specimens approached a mulberry tree, a loquat, and other vegetation near the houses during hours of lower human activity.
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