| Characteristics of family bovidae | • Permanent, unbranched horns in both sexes
• No lachrymal pits or fossa in skull
• Have a gall bladder |
| Mountain goat scientific name | Oreamnos americanus |
| Which management units are mountain goat present in? | All of them |
| Mountain goat physical characteristics | - All white pelage with beard and leg chaps
- Prominent shoulder hump
- Short, black recurved horns with pointed tips
- Have post-cornual gland (horn glands) |
| How can you tell mountain goat males from females? 5 ways | 1. Group composition: Males typically found alone, Females with juveniles
2. Urination posture: Males stretch, females squat
3. Genitalia: - Male scrotum visible at close range
- Black vulva patch of female may be visible if tail raised
4. Body Size and Pelage: - Males higher at shoulder than females and have larger beards, shoulder hair and
leg chaps
5. Horn shape and size: Males have thicker horns at base and tips have gradual taper. Females taper with sharper curve |
| Mountain goat habitat | High and steep
-¾ time on cliff faces away from predators
-¼ time in alpine meadows adjacent to cliffs |
| Mountain goat food and feeding | Summer = grass grazing
Winter = shrub browsing
Use mineral licks late spring -summer
Never far from cliffs for safety |
| When are mountain goats sexually mature? (Different for males and females) | Females in 3rd year
Male in 5th or 6th year |
| Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep subspecies scientific name | Ovis canadensis canadensis |
| Stone's Sheep (thinhorn) subspecies scientific name | Ovis dalli stonei |
| Dall’s Sheep (thinhorn) subspecies scientific name | Ovis dalli dalli |
| What is considered a full curl on a thinhorn sheep? | Tip of horn goes beyond snout |
| What is considered a full curl on a bighorn? | Tip of horn goes beyond eye-horn base line |
| What is considered a 3/4 curl on a bighorn? | Tip of horn goes beyond back of eye line?? |
| Physical characteristics of Rocky mountain bighorn | Brown with white on muzzle, belly, inside legs and rump
Short black tail
Females smaller horns |
| Describe RM bighorn social behaviour | - Males live in bachelor groups except during rut
- Nursery groups consist of adult females with lambs and young males
- Herds usually <40 animals; males in smaller groups than females, larger mixed herds during rut |
| Dall's sheep physical characteristics | - Mostly white body with yellowish horns
- Mature rams have full-curled, flared horns |
| Stone's sheep physical characteristics | - Blackish pelage with greyish head and neck
- white muzzle, belly, inside of legs and rump patch; black tail
-Horn colour can be brown on outside edge and yellowish on the inside edge |
| Mountain sheep habitat | -open, treeless habitat for foraging with steep, rocky areas close by for escape
-Rams take greater risks than ewes
Summer = major rivers
Winters = steep, wind-swept, south facing slopes |
| When are mountain sheep sexually mature? | 1.5 years |
| Plains bison subspecies scientific name | Bos bison bison |
| Wood bison subspecies scientific name | Bos bison athabascae |
| What is the conservation status of Bison? | Threatened/Red listed |
| What is the difference between plains and wood bison? | Cape and chaps more distinctive in Plains bison
Wood = Highest point of hump forward of shoulders
Plains = directly over shoulders |
| Bison rutting behaviour | Wallowing and head butting |
