5200 x 3467 px | 44 x 29,4 cm | 17,3 x 11,6 inches | 300dpi
Data acquisizione:
23 giugno 2018
Ubicazione:
Mt Evans, Colorado, USA
Altre informazioni:
Mountain goats (oreamnos americanus) are not actually goats, but more closely related to antelopes and gazelles. Their heavily padded cloven hooves that spread widely, and sharp dewclaws make it possible for them to clamber and climb over the steep rocky slopes they prefer. They are heavily muscled in the neck and shoulders for strength and balance. The mountain goat coat consists of heavy, white hairs that grow extremely thick for winter warmth and sheds during the summer months. Both sexes have sharp, black horns that grow each year of the animal's life, developing with growth rings that allow an estimate of age. Mountain goats live in the high-altitude alpine and sub-alpine mountains from Utah and Colorado to Alaska. They seldom travel far from their birth mountain, generally migrating to higher altitudes in summer, and lower in winter, and some may be moved via helicopter by wildlife management services when herds become too large for their range. They graze on the grasses, sedges, forbs, mosses and lichens of their high-altitude environment, and get much of their water requirement from the food they eat and from year-round snowbanks. The chief predator of mountain goats is the cougar or mountain lion; wolves, eagles and bears will also opportunistically attack mountain goats or their kids.
