Cytogenetic studies of somatic cells in the chamois, belonging to the tribe Rupicaprini of the family Bovidae, revealed a karyotype with 58 acrocentric chromosomes and with one pair of large metacentrics. The fundamental number of 60 and the presence of Robertsonian changes as a dominating mechanism of karyotype variation seem to be characteristic for the tribe Rupicaprini, as they are for some related tribes of the Bovidae, mainly the Caprini.