Mountain lion vs mountain goat… a battle of the mountain creatures.
When you live in some of the most rugged and demanding terrain in all of North America, it can be a blessing and a curse. Of course, these animals have spent thousands of years adapting to the conditions, but that doesn’t mean it is easy.
During the cold weather seasons in the mountainous terrains of Western North America, food can become more scarce, temperatures drop into freezing, snow makes it more difficult to navigate, but these animals are built for it.
Found primarily in the Rocky Mountains and the Cascade Range, mountain goats are masters of navigating the steepest and most treacherous terrains. Their thick, white coats help them blend into snowy environments and keep warm in cold, high-altitude climates. Both males and females sport beards and have short tails, along with striking black horns. Despite their nimbleness, mountain goats are quite large, and quite jacked. Adults can weigh between 100 to 300 pounds and stand about 3 to 4 feet tall at the shoulder. This size, combined with their powerful muscles, allows them to dominate the rocky slopes they call home.
Their hooves are specially adapted with a hard outer shell and a soft, flexible pad that provides the traction needed to scale sheer rock faces. This adaptation enables them to live and thrive in some of the most inaccessible places on Earth. Inaccessible to… mountain lions?
Mountain lions are much more widespread than and adaptable than mountain goats, roaming from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes of South America, thriving in a variety of habitats. Isolated sightings occur all over the United States and a small population of the subspecies known as Florida Panthers live down in the Everglades region.
But much like the mountain goats, mountain lions use the terrain to their advantage. Their slender, muscular bodies and long tails, which help them maintain balance blend seamlessly with their environment and use it for cover. They are incredibly agile, capable of leaping up to 18 feet vertically and 40 feet horizontally in a single bound.
These solitary, stealthy hunters primarily prey on deer, though they will also hunt smaller or larger animals when necessary. Their retractable claws, powerful limbs, and acute senses of sight and hearing make them efficient predators.
Two heavyweight of the region… but who has the advantage? The mountain goats. They can simply go where others can’t, even some of the absolute best at navigating the terrain.
This recent footage from Wolftracker gives is a clear picture of these two majestic creatures in action. You can see a small family of mountain goats posted up on a very steep cliff face, out of reach for even the nimble mountain lion to get to. The big cat paces around, trying to find an lane to attack, but where the goats are located, it’s simply not gonna happen.
While mountain goats are not native to the area, this rare footage comes to us from the iconic Yellowstone National Park:
“Look carefully above the mountain goats to see a cougar stalking them along the mountain side. Our Winter Wolf Watch was lucky enough to get a rare glimpse of this big cat at work but the mountain goats survived in the end by perching on a tall and narrow cliff, leaving no room for the cougar to attack.”
Check it out:
