Mountain goat - born mountaineer

Under the name of the mountain goat is meant several species of cloven-hoofed animals, and the most famous of them are two: Alpine and Siberian. The king of the largest mountain system in Europe, the Alps, would now have disappeared from the face of the earth, if another royal person had not come to his aid. One hundred and fifty years ago, the Alpine handsome man was on the verge of extinction due to the centuries-old unbridled hunting of a man. In fact, there were only a few dozen or a hundred individuals in the alpine meadows of the Gran Paradiso massif. King of Savoy Victor Emmanuel II in 1861 took these animals under his protection, and the population quickly expanded. The successors of the King continued the work begun: in 1922 the National Park of Gran Paradiso was founded, where they are still watching the way of life and the number of these graceful cloven-hoofed animals.

Siberian mountain goat is spread over a vast territory: it is found in the mountains of Sayan, Altai, Tien Shan, Tarbagatay, Pamir, Saur. In the east, the herds of these stag beetles reach the rocky mountains of Afghanistan, Mongolia, Northwest China, and in the south they reach North-West India. Kazakhs call this animal a tau-teke, and the Kirghiz - too-teke. Height at the withers of such an animal is a meter, length - 160 cm, and they weigh from 150 to 200 kg. Female is noticeably smaller and more elegant than males. Also, the females have less horns - 40 cm vs. 150 cm. The color of both females and males is the same: dark fields on the sides and chest and light legs.

The mountain goat chooses the place of his residence as a rocky highland, for his salvation is in good climbing qualities. The natural enemies of animals are pumas and snow leopards, but they also prefer to ambush goats, and not chase them on steep mountain ledges. To overcome almost sheer walls, the goats developed a very interesting property of hooves: their pads are always soft and constantly grow. This property allows the legs to "stick" to the stones. After all, it is more convenient for us to walk barefoot on a slippery stone than in rough shoes. In addition, goats are very intelligent and socially united animals. There are always a few sentinels in the herd that watch the terrain vigilantly while others graze.

At the same time, the mountain goat is extremely curious. There have been occasions when competitions in slalom and ski jumping in the mountains gathered as spectators not only people, but ... wild goats who came to see the spectacle with females and cubs. Graze these animals in the alpine meadows, and rest near steep rocks, where there is less risk of being caught unawares by predators. In winter, they go down to the forest zone, or go to the southern slopes. In the summer, the herds of artiodactyls are not very large, in three dozen heads, and in winter animals gather in large communities of three or four hundred individuals.

The mountain goat acquires a harem of 5-20 females and strictly protects it from the encroachments of other males. Tournaments are of a harsh nature. Usually males live separately from flocks of females with young, gallantly yielding to them the best pastures, but in the period of the rut that falls in November-December, the males descend and go into battle for the goats. The right to continue the genus is usually won by the strongest and hardy male 5-6 years old. Females begin to bring offspring at the age of 2-3 years. At the end of April or early May, lambing begins. Most often, one kid is born, and less often twins. Already a few hours after the birth of the baby can stand on the legs and follow his mother. She feeds him with milk until late autumn, although the goat can still chew at the age of one month.

These mountain animals are often the victims of fishing and sport hunting. They have long been extracted for meat and skins, and the horns of a mountain goat are now considered a valuable hunting trophy. In a number of places hunting for these handsome alpinists is prohibited. In the wild they live about 16 years, and in the zoo can reach up to 20. There are several subspecies of a mountain goat with different forms of horns - a screw-horned goat (horns like a corkscrew), Siberian ibex (horns look like a saber) and others.