Several years ago I took a short video of some mountain goats while I was on the way down to Hidden Lake. I wondered if anyone knows what these goats are doing. Sorting out dominance? Maybe? Any other ideas?
By the way I was not as close to these goats as it appears in the video as I used a long lens.
Nannies can be very competitive and protective of their space and food sources. They fight with one another for dominance in conflicts that can ultimately include all the nannies in the herd. In these battles, nannies circle each other with their heads lowered, displaying their horns.
I have seen goats do this on Mount Brown years ago where there was a herd of 20 or so goats hanging around the lookout. Two goats started circling each other quite close up until one goat was driven off. They seemed quite intense and paid no attention to me or the other goats. Glad I was not in the middle of the circle.
This is some video from July 11th 2019. The videos are long but part 2 shows some of the interaction of up to 8 goats in the woods just off the Hidden lake trail. Apparently squabbling over rights to lick the best places where humans had pee'd in the woods. It may be that the bears have learned how the goats gather in these woods on a regular basis. The area is relatively flat and a good place to ambush the goats since there are no cliffs nearby for escape cover. I came through these same woods about an hour before the bear incident. The broken horn nannie was among the goats in this same spot.
Let me know if you have trouble playing these videos. Sometimes have to restart them.
I may have to upload them again
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-
"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat." George Carlin
Well that was fun looking at the goat photos and also Pete's videos!
To change things up a bit, I've got a 1 minute video of bears I saw last year in Many Glacier. These were all on the same day. And right next to the road in MG. I obviously used a long lens.
calicotraveler wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:04 pm
Well that was fun looking at the goat photos and also Pete's videos!
To change things up a bit, I've got a 1 minute video of bears I saw last year in Many Glacier. These were all on the same day. And right next to the road in MG. I obviously used a long lens.
Both of those bears looked pretty healthy. What month was that video made?
The brownish/cinnamon one looks like one I saw in the same general area last year.
Thanks for sharing. I love bear videos too.
pete
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-
"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat." George Carlin
The video was taken mid June of last year. There were many bears around on the days when we went into MG. Was happy to see them from the road instead of meeting them on a trail.