Mountain goats

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calicotraveler
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Mountain goats

Post by calicotraveler »

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.

The mountains are calling and I must go.
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Re: Mountain goats

Post by Fairbanks142 »

Here's what's described under "Aggressive behavior" on this Wikipedia page for mountain goats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_goat

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.
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Re: Mountain goats

Post by llholmes1948 »

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.

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Re: Mountain goats

Post by calicotraveler »

Thanks Fairbanks142. That looks like what was going on. Only time I've seen this.
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Re: Mountain goats

Post by Fairbanks142 »

You're welcome! I learned a few things looking that up as well.

Here are some mountain goat pics from the Hidden Lake Overlook trail a couple weeks ago:

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Re: Mountain goats

Post by PeteE »

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


pete

Here is Part 1 of two videos I made of the goats on the way back to the Hidden lake trail.
Part 1 runs about 14 minutes.
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-8V6 ... x-1920.mp4

This video is the interaction of the goats, eight of them at one point, over a place where someone had pee'd.
Part 2 runs about 17 minutes
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-MgB ... N-1920.mp4

pete :wink:
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Re: Mountain goats

Post by calicotraveler »

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.

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Re: Mountain goats

Post by PeteE »

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. :)

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Re: Mountain goats

Post by calicotraveler »

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. :)
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Re: Mountain goats

Post by calicotraveler »

Another animal pic:
Bighorn this time.
Image
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