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Witnessing chamois populations recover

Haritakis Papaioannou combines a mountaineer’s know-how with a scientific eye to track the slow recovery of chamois populations in western Greece.
By
  1. Ugo Mellone
Haritakis Papaioannou looking through a telescope in a mountainous landscape.

Haritakis Papaioannou is a conservation biologist and coordinator of Vikos-Aoos UNESCO Global Geopark, Ioannina, Greece. Credit: Ugo Mellone for Nature

“The first time I saw a chamois, a mammal closely related to both goats and antelopes, was more than 40 years ago while I was hiking in Epirus, a mountainous region in western Greece. Chamois were rare then; the desire to learn about and protect them inspired me to become a biologist. Over the past 25 years, their population in my study area — the Northern Pindos National Park — has grown drastically, mainly thanks to a ‘human shield’ effect created by hikers visiting the upper parts of the Northern Pindos mountain range: their presence has made poaching more difficult.

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Nature 647, 552 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-03640-1

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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