MOUNTAIN
GOAT
#MTG-500
Notecards Only
Also available in Notecard Assortment Pack #AST-504
Like
to see a mountain goat in the wild? Head for rocky mountain elevations
of 10,000 feet or more from Alaska to southern Colorado. Then
look for locations that seem impossible to reach such as sheer
cliff faces. That’s where mountain goats usually settle,
perhaps because they are uniquely adapted to maneuver in terrain
where wolves, cougars and other predators cannot follow. Moreover,
these goat-antelopes can survive on lichens, twigs, sedges, even
pine needles.
Weighing
200 to 300 pounds and measuring three to four feet tall at the
shoulder, adult mountain goats can trot fearlessly along ledges
only a few inches wide. They benefit from powerful legs and wide,
black hooves with rugged rims surrounding a soft, cushioned pad
that grasps rock surfaces. Even one-day-old kids can run, jump
and climb.
No
other animal lives high in the mountains all year long. A layer
of short, wooly underfur combines with an outer layer of long,
hairy white fur for protection against high winds and low temperatures.
In the spring, mountain goats shed their winter coat.
The
billie male and nanny female look nearly alike, both sporting
beards and sharp horns. Billies are larger, but nannies dominate.
Except during the mating season in November, billies live alone.
Nannies and kids typically live in bands of two to 20 mountain
goats.
Text
© 1998 Terry White, Drawing © 1998 Bill Harrah.
GOATS
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