Facts About Mountain Goat

According to Angela and McKenzie Jakes of Facts about goats, “ There are approximately 450 million goats around the world.” All goats are herbivores. Mountain goats can weigh 125 to 180 lbs. They are around 49 to 70 inches long. 8 to 10 inch horns. There are over 200 breeds of domestic goats. The smallest is a Nigerian dwarf goat, which weighs around 20lbs. The largest domestic goat angolo Nubian, which weighs around 250lbs. There are many differences between mountain, wild and domestic goats.

Mountain Goats

Mountain goats have three names. There names are, mountain goat, goat-antelope, and oreamnos americanus, which is their scientific name. They are from the Bovidae family, which includes antelopes, sheep and ect. Mountain goats eat grass,

After the kid is born the nannie cases the billy out of their territory. She does that to avoid competition in the future. Although he is kicked him out he still stays around the territory to protect them from something that comes to eat them. The most common predator is a mountain lion. They also shed their fur in the spring. In the winter the temperature is around eighteen degrees. It does not any warmer than sixty five degrees. The kids get up and walk around shortly after they are born. The kids eat greens a couple of days after they are born. When the kids are young they releasing is playing, when they get their horns, they quit. The kids stay with their mothers until they are around a year old.

They can climb so well because their feet act like suction cups on the ground. According to the author of Mountain Goat:Facts, “The hoof on each foot of a mountain goat has a hard outer shell and a rubbery, concave foot pad which acts like a suction cup when weight is applied.” They can jump twelve feet in a single leap. Did you know mountain goats can climb 3,281 to 16,404 feet above sea level?

Domestic

Their horns are bent back towards their backs. They are really strong jumpers. They can jump across leges that other animals can not go through. According to Grzimeks Enzyklopadie, author of Grzimek’s Encyclopedia, “The bucks- and sometimes does as well- fight by facing each other, raising themselves up on their hind legs, and crashing their horns together as they come down.” Unlike the mountain goats ibexes migrate. In the spring they climb down, to eat the growing food. In the spring they shed their two lays of fur. During the summer their food portions are, 60% of it is grass, 38% of it is herbs, and the other 2% of it is woody plants. They go back up July to October. Then there diest goes more towards woody plants and leaves and herbs from under the snow. December through January is mating season. December through January is the only time that the two groups/herds come together. All through the rest of the year there are two groups, one is for the bucks only. The second one is for the does and kids. Once the young boys turn three they switch and go into their fathers group. Kids are born in June. They usually have one kid it is rare for them to have twins. The mothers are usually three to four years old or older. Spring through autumn the bucks are in their groups again. In their groups they have rankings, the strongest and the ones with the longest horns are the ones in the top ranks. Their lifespan is 10 to 14 years does