Fun Facts For All Ages: Mountain Goats

FUN FACTS FOR ALL AGES Mountain Goats!

They’re not really goats!

They are from another branch of the same family, known as “goat-antelopes.”

Relatives

Takin

Chamois

in Europe in Asia

These species also live on steep, rocky cliffsides and mountains.

They’re unique to this area!

Mountain goats only live in western North America. Their ancestors probably came from central Asia.

Scientists believe they came to North America 40,000 years ago by the Bering land bridge.

Life Cycle

Mountain goats mate in the late fall, mostly during the month of November.

Males will travel huge distances, visiting multiple winter ranges to find females. Males compete for dominance with aggressive posturing and sometimes fighting. A male will burn much of his fat reserves looking for a mate in the winter. This leaves him with relatively little fat to last the winter when the mating season is over.

Females give birth in late May or early June, usually to one baby, called a “kid.” Each year up to 40% of adult females do not produce a kid.

Mountain goats usually live in two groups: females and young in the “nursery group” and adult males in the “bachelor group.” The females are the matriarchs and lead their herds as a matriarch elephant does. Few mountain goats live past 12 years, but one is reported to have lived for 18 years.

All photos courtesy of Dwayne Ridler

A newborn mountain goat can begin running and climbing a few hours after birth!

Mountain goat hooves are made for climbing steep, rocky cliffs in all weather. Each hoof is split in two, which means they can spread or contract to fit the terrain. The hooves have a soft, grippy texture on the bottom so they won’t slip on icy or wet rocks. The shed wool has traditionally been gathered and woven by many First Nations people in BC and Alaska.

Mountain goat horns can grow as long as 30 cm and are very sharp and dangerous. They are known to use them to gore predators or humans who threaten them. Mountain goats grow a thick, heavy winter coat to survive the cold winters in the mountains.

The coat is made of two layers: an inner layer of thick, soft wool 5 to 8 cm long; and an outer layer of coarse guard hairs which can be up to 20 cm long. These guard hairs give them their well-known shaggy winter look.

Winter coat shedding Summer coat

Predators

Predators of mountain goats include both grizzly and black bears, as well as cougars, wolves, and wolverines. Golden eagles have also been seen to prey on mountain goats, even in areas close to the Kitselas Traditional Territory.

Mountain goats generally live in areas that are hard to get to, but they are very sensitive to hunting and predation. In fact, if hunters or predators continually stress a population, the females will stop reproducing.

Mountain goats will stand up for themselves against predators and can even kill them. In 2021, a mountain goat in Southeastern BC killed a grizzly bear by goring it with its horns.

Habitat and food

Mountain goats have a preference for steep, treacherous cliff areas. They often live high up in the mountains, but some are also found in low valley canyons and in some forested areas near the ocean.

Mountain goat groups have a “home range,” which covers a large area. They migrate around within it throughout the year.

This means that mountain goats sometimes will cross large valleys to access other mountain ranges. They have been seen passing through small mountain towns such as Smithers BC and crossing treacherous rivers. Mountain goats have even been witnessed walking on beaches in certain coastal areas of BC.

In the summer, the nursery groups usually travel much farther than the bachelor groups. However, there have been records of individual males travelling as far as 75 kilometres from their home range. Near the BC coast, mountain goats will spend the winter and spring in steep forested areas near or on cliffs within the alpine treeline. Mountain goats that live closest to the coast can spend their winters and spring within a few hundred feet of the ocean. The snow is too deep in the coastal high alpine areas for these goats to access plant food. However, sometimes coastal mountain goats will travel up high in the alpine to feed where the snow is shallower due to high winds.

In the BC Interior, such as in the Babines, mountain goats will stay in the alpine during the winter. The snow is usually much shallower in these areas, allowing the goats to access their food sources more easily.

Not food Delicious!

Mountain goats are herbivores, which means their diet is entirely plant-based. A study in Southern Alaska observed mountain goats eating over 80 species of trees, shrubs, and many other types of plants, including lichens.

Dwayne Ridler

Mountain goats will go to great lengths to get a tiny bit of salt

Mountain goats will travel long distances to visit natural salt licks. But in Washington State, some mountain goats started licking urine left behind by hikers because of the salt content! These mountain goats started following people and sometimes chasing them. They would also try to lick clothing and any other sweaty items.

Avenue / Wikimedia

Photo: Mountain goat licking a handrail for the salt left behind by sweaty human hands.

Human impacts

If you encounter a mountain goat, you should stay at least 50 metres away. Mountain goats can be aggressive if they feel threatened, and their horns can be very dangerous. In 2010 a hiker in Washington State was killed by a mountain goat.

The taste of mountain goat meat has a dubious reputation. However, many people in BC regularly eat it and say the meat is quite tasty. Mountain goat meat can be very tough, so it is usually ground into burger, made into sausage, canned, slow-cooked, dried or even aged.

Many populations of mountain goats, especially in southern BC, have become extinct in the last century due to overhunting and industryrelated activities.

Mountain goats are impacted by:

• Overhunting • Industry

(mining, logging, etc) • Climate change

AnetteWho / Flickr

The One-Horned Goat

Mountain goats are found in many local First Nation oral histories. Walter Wright, Chief of the Grizzly Bear People of Kitselas, tells the story of L-La-Matte, the Feast of the Goats, in the book Men of Medeek. Some of the oral histories speak to rigorous systems to manage the hunting of mountain goats. These management systems have worked for millennia to continue the existence of local mountain goat populations.

Participate in our Elder Connections series

This is an opportunity for youth to connect with Elders in their family by interviewing their family members and learning from them. We are providing the platform of this article series to demonstrate knowledge transmission from one generation to another.

Are you interested in writing an article for this series? We are looking for Kitselas youth under 25 who would like to interview their elders and write about that experience in their own words.

We will provide the cost of a one-time meal to facilitate the interview.

We are looking for writing with a minimum of 500 words and a maximum of 1200 words for the article.

Suggested questions for your elders: • How have you experienced material/processing change in harvesting traditional foods in your family? • How have you experienced seasonal changes in the timing of harvesting? • How have our cultural ways experienced change for the better/worse? • What hopes do you have for your family or for Kitselas? • Development on reserves: What amenities do you hope for on reserve? • Knowledge transmission: What is the best way for younger generations to learn about Kitselsas Land Connections?

We recommend providing a sheet with these questions to each elder after the interview. If they forget to mention something and want to include it, they can write down their thoughts later.

Please contact Cedar Welsh, LR.Manager@kitselas.com, if you would like to participate! The next issue of the magazine will be published in the summer.