Mountain goats have incredible cliff-climbing skills - here's how do they do it
Mountain goats are only found in North America, concentrated around the Rocky Mountains. There are about 100,000 of them today.
Latest1 min readBut they're not actually goats. They're part of the antelope family.
They use the precipitous heights of their mountain homes for protection from predators.
Their biggest predators are bears, wolves, cougars, and golden eagles, which can snatch up kids. Humans are a problem, too, since hunting is legal in many states they call home.
Males are called billies and females are called nannies.
Kids can start climbing with their parents when they're just days old.
Source: Defenders of Wildlife
Mountain goats typically live at elevations above 10,000 feet. They migrate to lower elevations during the spring and summer, but return to their mountaintops to survive the long winter.
Source: Woodland Park Zoo
Look at it go!
Mountain goats owe their climbing abilities to their crazy feet. They're hard and bony on the outside, and soft on the inside.
They can wiggle their front toes together and apart so they can grip surfaces better. And the convex shape of their hooves act like slip-proof soles.
Source: Woodland Park Zoo
You can count the number of rings on their horns to tell how old they are, just like a tree.
Source: Defenders of Wildlife
They graze on grasses and other plants for food.
Goats love savory snacks, like this one that's licking the guardrail at Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park because sweaty human hands left salt on it.
In the wild, mountain goats can live up to 15 years. Long live the crazy, cool mountain goat!
Source: Woodland Park Zoo
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