Why Mountain Goats Don’t Believe In Gravity

These gravity-defying mountaineers feel most at home on almost vertical rock faces. Using specialized hooves that would give the best hiking boots a run for their money, they're able to cling to the cliffs, ensuring predators can't follow. While these cliff-hanging nannies, billies, and kids may look sweet and fluffy, they are among the most aggressive ungulates in the world. These goats don't believe in gravity. Meet the mountain goat. Hi, I'm Danielle Dufault and you're watching Animalogic. Oriamnos americanus, also known as the rocky mountain goat, the snow goat, and the white goat, is known for living dangerously in subalpine and alpine regions of northwestern North America. But before we go any further, I'd like to thank the sponsor of this week's video, Masterworks. Masterworks.io is the first platform that lets you invest in the same artwork that billionaires do, for a fraction of the price they pay. And they know what they're doing. So far, they've sold three paintings, with each returning over 30% to investors, net of fees. And since art can actually benefit from inflation, your investment can appreciate over 20% in one year. Of course, past performance is no guarantee of future results, and you should consult with a financial advisor to see if this type of investment is right for you. We're big fans of the work our friends over at Masterworks are doing, and it's super easy to get started. In just a few clicks, you can create an account, browse the artwork, and diversify your portfolio with a socially responsible asset that has a low correlation to most major markets, so it isn't affected as much by external factors. You can gain priority access by clicking on the link in the description. Thanks Masterworks! When Oriamnos herringtoni went extinct about 11,000 years ago, the mountain goat was left as the sole member of its genus. Despite their name, mountain goats are not actually true goats, since they don't belong to the genus Capra, along with wild and domestic goats. The ancestors of the mountain goat are thought to have crossed the Bering Strait into North America during the last ice age. These ancestors seem to have evolved the ability to tiptoe along rock faces over a hundred thousand years ago. The mountain goat's skillful balancing act begins with their specialized hooves, which have evolved to provide them serious traction on rocky and icy slopes. Out here in the Yukon, if you're looking for mountain goats, you better look up. They've got hooves that can get them anywhere they want to be. Climbing up steep cliff faces like it's no problem. Their hooves are cloven, meaning that they are split into two. The outside of their oversized hooves is rock hard, while the inner pad is both super tough and super flexible. Mountain goats can spread their hooves wide for better balance, with their rough pads working like rubber mountaineering boots for better traction. On the back of their hooves are two large dewclaws, which they plant while descending to give them even more balance and control. Their low centre of gravity also helps them keep steady while navigating their rocky home terrain. Yeah, these mountain goats are looking down at us like, what, can't you get up here? What's your problem? And they're right, I can't. While mountain goats do spend time on alpine meadows and plateaus, they rarely venture more than half a kilometre away from cliffs and rock faces in case they need to make a quick getaway. Within just a couple days of birth, kids are already able to follow their mothers up, down, and all around their rocky habitat. These mountain goats have this ability to climb that almost seems supernatural. They don't look like super agile animals, but you'd be surprised at just how steep of a cliff they can just hop on up. They may be short and stocky at about one metre tall, but these muscle-bound powerhouses have shoulder and foreleg muscles that propel them up to three and a half metres in a single bound. That's about the same distance as the current world record for standing broad jump. All mountain goats, both the females, known as nannies, and the males, known as billies, are crowned with two sharp black horns, which they use for both defence and intimidation. These pointed puffballs are wrapped in woolly, white, double-layer coats that keep them cosy in the winter, and which they shed once a year in the summer. Mountain goats are also built for these cold climates. Even their colour helps them evade predation, because living on top of these mountains means that they blend in just perfectly with the snowy ice caps. Mountain goats do stay white all year round. The main difference is that during the summer, they have a much thinner, lighter coat. In the winter, they bulk up that fluff and get super duper floofy. During the summer months, mountain goat nannies gather to form nursery groups of up to 100 individuals. These matriarchal groups have a very strict social hierarchy. The older you are as a mountain goat nanny, the more clout you've got. Nannies show their dominance in a variety of ways. From death stares all the way up to outright duels. Mountain goats are among the most aggressive animals within their family, with nannies taking the cake as the most hostile of them all. If you're another mountain goat, you don't want to cross a crabby nanny. During the rut, billies have to tread very lightly, and not just because they live on steep cliffs. Nannies are particularly aggressive towards billies during courtship. To avoid getting seriously injured, males can only approach females when the females are in heat, and only with a slow and submissive stance to avoid getting skewered by her sharp horns. Unlike other goats, mountain goats don't try and ram heads during their fights for dominance. Instead, they'll try and stab each other with their horns. Yikes. Despite their hulk levels of aggression, these fights to the death are actually relatively rare. It's just wild to think that these mountain goats will challenge each other up on top of mountains. I don't know if I'd ever risk that. The chances of falling from way up there are a little too high for me. Predators, too, need to watch out for the razor-sharp horns of the mountain goat. Earlier this year in British Columbia, the carcass of a grizzly bear was discovered with stab wounds in its armpit and neck. The murder weapon? The long, dagger-like horns of a mountain goat. Metal. Along with grizzlies, other predators like wolves, coyotes, golden eagles, wolverines, and mountain lions are responsible for the deaths of many a mountain goat. Another common cause of mountain goat mortality is starvation. Kids commonly die of starvation during harsh winters, and older individuals will often die of starvation once their teeth have worn away from a lifetime of chomping on hard vegetation. Their ability to climb and live in areas where they won't be followed may give them an edge against predators, but it also puts them squarely in the path of other dangers. Mountain goats often die from accidental falls, avalanches, rock slides, and even being struck by lightning. And yet, despite all the perils, these ungulate rock climbers continue to thrive in some of the most inhospitable places on Earth. Living dangerously definitely summarizes the high-stakes life of the mountain goat. What do you think we should talk about next? Please let me know in the comments, and be sure to subscribe for new episodes every week. Thanks for watching! See ya!