Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Mountain goats - dressed in a WOOLLY white double coat

This week's  Illustation Friday's topic for February 15 - Thursday, February 21st is — "Wool" as suggested by Claudea A. Larrauri

Mountain Goat pen and ink line illustration by Sandra Santa Lucia

Facts about this animal: Both male and female mountain goats have beards, short tails, and long black horns, 15-28 cm in length, which contain yearly growth rings. They are protected from the elements by their WOOLLY white double coats. The fine, dense wool of their undercoats is covered by an outer layer of longer, hollow hairs. In warmer seasons, mountain goats molt by rubbing against rocks and trees, with the adult billies (males) shedding their extra wool first and the pregnant nannies (females) shedding last. In the winter, their coats help them to withstand temperatures as low as -50 Fahrenheit (-46 Celsius) and winds of up to 100 mph (161 km/h). 
A billy stands about 1 meter at the shoulder and weighs about 90 kg. It has longer horns and a longer beard than the nanny. Adult males typically weigh between 45 and 100 kg, while females are usually 10-30% lighter. The mountain goat's feet are well-suited for climbing steep, rocky slopes, sometimes with pitches of 60 degrees or more, with inner pads that provide traction and cloven hooves that can spread apart as needed. Dewclaws on the back of their feet also help to keep them from slipping. 

 This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mountain Goat". 
Did you know? that by inhabiting this extreme and remote habitat mountain goats limit competition from other ungulates and predation risk? 
Factsheet: Class: MAMMALIA; Order: ARTIODACTYLA; Suborder: RUMINANTIA; Family: BOVIDAE; Name: (Scientific) Oreamnos americanus; Name (English): Mountain goat; Name (French): Chèvre de Montagne; Name (German): Schneeziege, Bergziege; Name (Spanish): Cabra de la montaña, Cabra de las Rocosas. http://www.waza.org/en/zoo/pick-a-picture/oreamnos-americanus

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