Everyone loves a good underdog story. This one happens to be an under-goat story.
Anytime I see a wildlife video, I’m always rooting for the prey to outsmart the predator. Unfortunately, with the typical outdoor videos, that rarely ever happens, but you can give credit where credit is due, like this video with this elusive goat.
The footage opens up with the wolf already in full pursuit of the smaller goat. A mountain range is the backdrop for this “wild” chase, and the goat does its best to utilize the rocky landscape.
A couple of zigs here and a couple of zags there by the goat keeps the wolf on its toes, but the wolf is playing some pretty disciplined defense. The way the wolf carries itself is very similar to how a 4th-year senior guard in college basketball plays: doesn’t take any chances, sticks to the plan, and remains level-headed.
You can tell that the goat is trying to get to the high ground (cue the Star Wars meme), but the wolf evidently has some experience in chases such as this one. There are a couple of times where the goat keeps a large boulder between itself and the wolf, and those couple seconds provides brief windows of hope.
However, like I mentioned earlier, the wolf plays the whole thing with impressive intelligence, and simply waits out the goat each time it loses sight of the small animal. The goat tries to pull multiple fake-out moves on the approaching wolf, but a slip-up later into the footage metaphorically and literally puts the “nail in the coffin” for the animal being chased down.
The goat slides down a steep portion of the mountain and loses any sort of cover that it had on the higher portion of the rocks. Soon after, the wolf slides down Fred-Flintstone style and finally catches the goat.
Pour one out for this goat though, it put up a hell of a fight. That late-chase slip up was crucial to the dramatic chase down and allowed the wolf to come away as the victor.
Nature’s version of the exciting police chase:
The goat was so close to pulling off the upset. If the goat could’ve thrown a juke move on the wolf and the predator slipped and fell down the mountain, this article would’ve been a complete other thing.
Just wait until the wolf runs into a goat like this though in the Twitter post below. I’d like to see how confident it would be facing off against this beast.
Clever Mountain Goat Dodges Attacking Grizzly Bear
Stay in your lane, bear. There’re a few situations out there as a predator, that may seem like a good idea, but really, they are not. Going after a mountain goat on the side of a rocky mountain face is one of those situations. They are made for the mountains and there’s no two ways about it.
A grizzly has a massive size advantage, coming in at around 700-pounds with some being recorded over 1,000. While mountain goats on average come in around 200-pounds. Although that’s a large goat, its no match for a grizzly.
But, these goats stay on the mountain sides, that is their defense mechanism. They have thick coats of fur to protect them from the harsh elements at high altitudes along with lots of muscle. These goats can jump up to 12-feet at a time to get across dangerous faces on the mountainsides. Their white fur is that way to camouflage with the snow that typically is on the mountain tops.
Everything about them is made to avoid predators. So, seeing a grizzly sizing one up is definitely worth watching. This grizzly is seen creeping down the mountain side hoping to get ahold of a nanny and her kid. The pair stand and watch the bear approach.
This may seem foolish but they mother is confident in their position so she is willing to wait it out and see what happens, because in the end they can move better across the terrain they always live on. The bear gets close but can’t figure out how to get to them, and while bears are decent climbers themselves, it risks plummeting to its death trying to get down there. The goats realize this and stay put. The patience and trust in their own abilities pays off as the grizz retreats for a different approach. He can’t find it and just looks at them in disappointment.
They are right there but he just can’t get to them. Cool as cucumber with an approaching grizzly.
Cyclist Stumbles Upon Beefed Up Mountain Goat At Glacier National Park
When you think of the average goat, you think of small, innocent creatures with small horns and some of the creepiest eyes you’ve ever seen. Or maybe you think of those weirdos doing goat yoga in the park… right before they shuffle off to get a post workout pumpkin spice latte.
But nah… this one was made in a lab.
Okay, okay, mountain goats are typically bigger than your average goat you’d see on a farm, as they typically stand around 39 inches tall at the shoulder, and males can weigh up to 260 pounds. But this guy right here, this is the goliath of mountain goats, or the Shawn Oakman of mountain goats, if you will…
Remember that guy?
Imagine cycling down a winding mountain road, enjoying the views and going only about 25 mph so you don’t send it off the side of a mountain, and then you come across this thing looking you dead in the eyes.
It’s unclear where this encounter happened, but it looks like Logan Pass in Glacier National Park, Montana.
That son of a gun looks bigger than a horse.
Climbing mountains all day, this big SOB does NOT skip leg day… or shoulder day, or chest day… or any of them.
I just think they needed this guy to be on that Matthew McConaughey Lincoln commercial, instead of Cyrus the bull:
