18

by Peter Martinson,
~ Proprietor;

Bornite Mountain

Taxidermy

The common name of moun-
tain goat implies that we are
dealing with a species of goat
that lives in the mountains. But,
the mountain goat is not a true
goat despite the resemblance to
the short-horned breeds of
domestic goat. His Latin name is
Oreamnos, meaning lamb, sug-
gesting that the creature might
be some sort of sheep. It is not,

‘though mountain sheep do in-
habit many of the same chains
of peaks.

-Few fossil remains have been
found, so the evolution of the
mountain goat is poorly under-
‘stood, It is believed ‘to have

come from the rupicaprini fami- ©

ly which is a subdivision of. the
Bovidae family, to which the
tribes of true goats and sheep,
true antelope, and bison and cat-
tle and their relatives belong. It
is very difficult to point to such
a thing as a perfect represen-
tative of the mountain goat.

Generally, mountain goats
don’t really attain full size until
at least the age of three. An ex-
- ceptionally big billy may weigh:
up to 300 Ibs. although the usual
weight is about 150 to 200 lbs.
The female or ‘nannie’ is about
15 percent smaller.

The mountain goat’s outer fur

' consists of coarse guard hairs up —

to 8 inches in length. Beneath
the outer fur are 2 to 3 inches of
tightly woven wool as fine as
cashmere.

Their slender, black shiny

horns rise to asmooth backward .

curve. The North American
record horns according to the
Boone & Crocket book measure

12 inches on each side and were . |
taken in the 1940’s inthe Babine .

Mountains. Generally, any
billy’s horns over 10 inches

qualify for the record book.

Behind the base of each hornisa
crescent of black spongy tissue,
the supraoccipital gland, which
is used for scent-marking during
the mating season and in

association with aggresive social _

encounters outside the rut, by

A close look at a

between November and early

- December. The gestation period

is approximately 178 days, with
the young single kids, occa-
sionally twins, being born in the
spring, during May or June.
Birth takes place within the
roughest portions of the local
goat range. Nevertheless, the
kids are able to follow the
mothers over very difficult ter-
rain within a few days. There is
one record of a a kid being able
to walk a short distance within
10 minutes after birth: By six
weeks the young goats are wean-

‘ed and go feeding at nannie’s

side.

Nannies tend to stick to their
traditional home range year
after year, Billies usually take up
separate ranges at about the time
they turn three, or sometimes at
an earlier age.

The goat’s natural habitat is

‘confined to the least accessible

mountain areas. That habitat ex-

rubbing the horn gland against —- :

vegetation.

Instead of a concave surface

within the horny shell of the
hoof, as all deer have, the moun-
tain goat has pliable pads which
are slightly convexed to protrude
beyond the outer shell coverings,

These provide the traction which
enables a goat to travel over the | -
‘smoothest surfaces of rock —
slopes in such a sure-footed

manner,
Food taken by this animal
ranges from alpine grasses and

flowers to almost any tree and
shrub except spruce. Food eaten -
is mixed with gastric juices and =~
stored in the first stomach. ©

When the mountain goat rests,
small food pellets or cuds are
returned to the mouth to be
completely chewed. The cud
then by-passes the first stomach
to the second or third for further
digestion.

The wearing down of adult
teeth to the gum lines is an im-
portant built-in limit to longevi-

‘ty. Generally, a mountain goat
older than 10 years is nearing the
end of its natural lifespan.

Mountain goats don’t usually
become sexually mature until at
least two years old; thus,
females usually are first capable

of giving birth by the time they
are three, Mating reaches a peak ~

plains why the goat has never
been among the most sought-
after of big game animals. It is
no fun to hunt.

The mountain goat pays little *

attention to what goes on above
it. In the first place, goats have
slightly bony ridges above. their
eyes, so their vision is poor in

that direction. Secondly, debris.

and larger rocks or hunks of
snow and ice are constantly fall-
ing down from above, and the
goat learns to ignore them.
According to Douglas H.
Chadwick in his book, ‘A Beast
The Color Of Winter’, most

_mountain goats that die in a

given year do so between the
start and finish of the snow
season, As might be expected,
the losses include the old, and
the injured, but by far the

heaviest toll falls upon. the

young. Even when a kid is in
perfect health a mother has to
éare for it. A mountain goat kid
almost qualifies as a different
species than an adult goat when

ose look at a shy and retiring rural
resident: the mountain goat

you compare abilities to cope
withthe winter. To begin with, the
kid weighs only a third as much
as a small, full-grown animal
and stands between one-half to

two-thirds as high at the:

shoulder, therefore there is more
heat loss due to a much greater
-gurface area relative to its-mass.
In snow chest deep to an adult,
kids practically. disappear. Also,
a kid’s strength isn’t anything
like an adult’s when it comes to
pawing away snow and crusts to
get at food. Lastly, kids have
less fat stored to burn as energy
than adults do, mostly because
much of their food energy in
summer and fall is commited to
growth.

During the winter of 1978-79,
studies were. done in
southwestern B.C. by wildlife

‘piologist Daryl Hebert. In that

season, storms twice dumped
over three feet of snow on the
benches in Jess than 24 hours.
Hebert had been keeping track
of two herds there for several

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years, Bach had increased

steadily through -a series of:

winters. By the time the:1978-79°
winter was over, between. 80-90
percent, not of the young, but of

each entire herd, were missing.

Avalariches also take their toll
on goat herds. According to
some biologists the existing
studies of mountain goats show
avalanches being responsible for

‘more corpses than predators,

disease, or any other single
culprit, including climbing ac-
cidents. _
Reviewing the various studies .
done so far, annual losses of bet- -
ween 40 and 60 percent of the .
kids in a herd are typical, and
losses as high as 80 percent are
not uncommon. These totals
vary with the severity of the .
winter conditions;
winter can double the number of
kids left.

Since 1976, all hunters taking z

mountain goat in B.C. have _
been required to present the. —

vontinued on. page 23 ~

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