Mountain goat: what it looks like and where it lives, varieties and names

The mountain wild goat lives in the highlands and eats everything it can find in the mountains. Domestic goats that graze in our meadows also belong to this genus. From their ancestors, domesticated animals got only the exterior. Wild goats are much smarter than rams and sheep. They are able to survive where predators cannot reach them. Wild animals have very large horns compared to domestic animals. In addition, they look more brutal, and the females have a small udder.

General characteristics

Mountain goats are artiodactyl mammals from the family of bovids, at least from pictures. They live, as the name implies, mainly in the mountains of Eurasia and Africa. These are the oldest representatives of the fauna of the northern hemisphere.

Mountain goats are distant relatives of mountain sheep, snow goats, chamois and even gorals. They can live at an altitude of 5 thousand meters above sea level. There are about ten species of these graceful animals. In one genus they are united by common morphological features and love for high mountain regions. The habitats of various species of wild goats rarely intersect with each other. They chose this unusual habitat to escape predators.

Animals are hardy, agile, undemanding to food, able to survive on sparse vegetation. They feed on grass, shrub branches and tree bark, mosses and lichens. These ruminants love s alt and are ready to climb the sheerest rock for it, which often surprises tourists and photographers.

They owe their climbing abilities to a compact body structure, strong legs, narrow, prehensile and forked hard hooves with a soft pad sole capable of sticking to the surface of any stone.Mountain goats have excellent coordination and a developed sense of balance. These animals, like butterflies, jump and flutter over the mountains, and if they cannot stay on one ledge, they quickly jump to another. They have very strong trained leg muscles, and they start jumping on rocks from infancy.

What a mountain goat looks like

A distinctive feature of these animals is the amazing beauty of the horns that grow throughout life and reach a length of more than one meter (for males). They are hollow inside, and outside they have transverse thickenings. The horns can be arched, bent back or to the sides, twisted into a spiral or screw. Goats never drop this attribute from their heads. Females also have horns, but short and dagger-like.

Mountain goats, as a rule, have a medium-sized dense body, a strong neck, a small head with a convex forehead, strong, medium-length limbs.The height at the withers is 50-95 cm, and the length of the body is 1.2-1.8 m. The ears are erect, the tail is short. Goats have a beard on their chin. The body of animals is covered with short thick and coarse hair of brownish, sandy, gray or yellowish color. Goats have an excellent sense of smell and vision (300 degree view), a well-developed brain.

These animals have been familiar to people for many millennia. The mountain bezoar goat is the ancestor of the domestic goat, the same one that is bred for milk, meat and wool. These animals used to be sacrificed, myths and legends were composed about them. The mythical goat Am althea, according to the beliefs of the Greeks, even nursed the baby Zeus with her milk.

Domestic goats are milked after the first lambing. Wild animals are not milked. All milk is fed to the young. Females have an udder with two teats. Wild goats weigh about 45-90 kg. Males are larger, their body weight is 50-125 kilograms. Females give birth to kids weighing 3-4 kg.

Breed Varieties

Mountain goats are divided into three groups. The classification is based on the structure of the horns. In total, there are 8-10 species of these beautiful animals. Groups of mountain goats:

1. Capricorns. Representatives (goats): Pyrenean, Nubian, Siberian, Ethiopian and Alpine (ibexes). These are animals with wide (at the head) and gradually tapering arched large horns. Length - up to one meter (in males). Numerous transverse ridges are noticeable on the upper surface. The horns are bent back and slightly diverge to the sides. Animals of this group live in mountainous, steppe and hilly areas.
2. Tours. Representatives: West Caucasian, East Caucasian, Severtsova. Tours have long horns growing back or to the sides. They have an arcuate or semi-spiral shape. The surface of the horns is slightly ribbed. Tours live mainly in mountainous areas (in the Caucasus).
3. Goats. Representatives: Markhor goat, domestic goat (more than 300 breeds).Unlike domestic animals, markhorn wild goats live in Asia, in the highlands. They have long, twisted, corkscrew-like horns. In females of markhorned animals, the horns are also twisted, but small.

Lifestyle

Mountain goats live, as a rule, in mountainous areas. Representatives of this genus of fauna avoid even and flat areas. They like to jump on the slopes of mountains, rocks and cliffs. These herd animals do not leave their native places even in winter. In summer, they simply climb as high as possible into the mountains, and in winter they have to go down to the foothills. Males and females live separately from each other, in small groups. Goats join goats only during the mating season. Goats live with their mothers for up to a year. In winter, herds of animals become larger. In spring, goats disperse in groups of 6-7 individuals.

What do they eat?

Mountain goats eat everything they find in the mountains: grasses, branches of shrubs, mosses, lichens. They taste everything they see, and then decide whether they will eat it or not. Wild animals eat bark, leaves, fruits. If desired, they can climb a tree. They love s alt very much, for which they even climb the walls of a concrete dam. Animals graze early in the morning or late in the evening. At lunchtime, they rest or hide in the shade from the hot sun. In places where predators can lie in wait for them, they go out to pasture only at night, and during the day they hide in the rocks.

Features of behavior

Mountain goats spend most of their lives in the same area in their native herd. From childhood, they get used to the mountains and to moving along mountainous and steep terrain.Animals easily jump over cliffs, perfectly balance on a vertical surface. They try to stay away from people and predators.

True, because of their curiosity, sometimes they watch from afar, for example, tourists and skiers.

Mountain goats run fast, jump high, can climb any sheer cliff, jump over the abyss. They are very cautious, smart and observant, and in case of danger they show courage. The herd usually has a guard goat that watches over the area. He warns his relatives about the danger by bleating, if necessary, the animals engage in battle with the enemy. True, most often wild goats quickly run away and hide in hard-to-reach rocks. Only males fight among themselves, and then only during the mating season.

Dangers and Enemies

Mountain goats live all their lives in hard-to-reach mountain places, fleeing from predators.They are hunted by bears and wolves, lynxes and leopards, panthers, tigers, leopards. Little kids can become prey for golden eagles, eagles, kites, hawks. Danger lies in wait for these wild mountain animals everywhere. In winter, they die due to avalanches, hard frost and cold winds. In summer, people hunt animals. True, many rare species (alpine, markhorn, Severtsova) are protected by law, that is, hunting for them is prohibited.

Reproduction and offspring

At the end of autumn, mountain goats begin their mating season. Males find females and arrange fierce battles among themselves. True, marriage fights are always conducted in compliance with certain rules. Males strike only with their horns (upper surface), they do not butt their foreheads like wild sheep. It is not uncommon for their beautiful hats to suffer during battles.

Male never hit unprotected parts of the body with their horns and drive the enemy away only a short distance. The winner of the duel gets the whole herd of females. During the mating season, males exude a pungent odor, become more aggressive than usual.

Pregnancy in goats lasts 5-6 months. In the spring they give birth to 1-4 cubs. Goats from the first minutes of life can stand on their legs and are able to suck milk from the udder. The cubs are very playful and mobile, they jump and frolic a lot. Young animals live with their mother for about a year, and then the females remain, and the young males form their herd. Adult goats jump on sheer cliffs in splendid isolation. Animals live, on average, 10-20 years.

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