#wildsouls
Mountain Goat
The mountain goat, also known as, the Rocky Mountain goat, inhabits the rocky mountains in North America through British Columbia, and into southern Alaska. Mountain Goats are related to captive goats, however, are more closely related to the antelope.
Both male and female mountain goats have black horns and a beard, however, male mountain goats, called billies, have longer beards and horns than female mountain goats, called nannies. During mating season, between October and December, billies will stare at the nannies for long periods of time and fight for them. Females will mate with more than one male, and once breeding season is over, males and females separate.
Mountain Goats grow a long second layer of wool during the winter and during spring it sheds. Mountain goats usually live between 12-15 years. However, when captive in zoos, they can 16-20 years.
The mountain goats are rated least concerned in conservation. Their biggest predators are cougars. However, other predators include, wolves, wolverines, lynxes, and bears. The attack of a mountain goat is known as a “frolick” and they use this attack toward big-horn sheep who they share territory with to show dominance.
Photo by: Yellowstone National Park via Flickr
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In honor of national jelly fish day on November 3rd.
Did you know that jellyfish can clone themselves? If a jellyfish is cut into two, it can regenerate into an entirely separate organism.
Photo by: David Merrett via Flickr
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October: Bat Appreciation Month
In honor of bat appreciation month and it being the spooky time of year, here are some awesome facts about bats!
- Bats can fly up to 60 mph.
- A baby bat is called a pup. Mothers will usually only have one pup per year and can find their pup within thousands of other bats.
- The largest bat has a wingspan of 6 feet and is called the “flying fox”
- Bats are mammals and the only mammals that fly.
- Over 1,000 bat species have been recorded. They make one fifth of the world’s mammals.
- At birth, a pup weighs about 25% of the mothers body weight. This is, on average, equivalent to a human mother giving birth to a 31 pound baby.
- 70% of bats consume insects. They are very important in our world’s ecosystem where they keep the insect population low.
Bats are endangered for many reasons. Mostly, like most animals, because of habitat loss due to deforestation. Saving bats are important as they are important to our ecosystem, and because they are just awesome animals. To learn more about bats and what you can do to help visit, here.
Pictured: Juvenile Mariana Fruit bat by: USFWS via Flickr
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