| You
can tell the age of a Mountain Goat. Just grab the animal
by the horns (just kidding) and count the rings on the
horn (similar to a tree). Horns car grow 2 inches per
year. Females have a crooked edged horn (to the back)
where the mails have a gently curving horns. Similar
to Bighorn Sheep the horns are mostly ornamental. |
Goats love steep and dangerous slopes. Predators
fear of heights is the goats best defense. Their stocky bodies,
short legs and specially adapted claws make them expert climbers
in the steep cliffs, windy crags and high elevations. Front
and back legs are close together. Possibly the greatest enemy
of the goat (they rarely lose balance) are avalanches and
snowslides with any unfortunate victims being eaten at the
bottom by bears or other carnivores. Goats eat any vegetation
they can find including lichen, grasses, rushes, flowers,
conifer browse, tourists and shrubs. What a tasty salad, eh?
Because food is scarce on mountain cliffs goats are somewhat
solitary.
Goats will come down from the safety
of cliffs and steep inclines for water
Rutting Season antics. Mountain Goats do display
the characteristic comic displays of males in many species
but this is confined to the application of urine soaked mud,
aggressive threats and very occasional horn saber fights with
other males. Not as odd the the mating antics of humans
but...
Nannies bear single kids or occasionally twins
6 to 9 pounds after a winter of eating shrubs (sounds like
a plot for a new movie?).
| Carnivores
looking to make a meal of goats include bear, the mountain
lion and wolf. Rarely, the young may be attacked by
eagles, lynx and wolverines. Human hunters avoid the
animals as their meat has a musky taint which is not
appetizing. |
