Horned goat - description, habitat, lifestyle

This animal is a representative of the artiodactyl squad. It is part of the family of so-called bovids. The goat became the horned one due to its extraordinary form of horns. In males, they are flat, rather large. The horns are unusual in that they are twisted in a spiral.

Appearance Features

The fact of the presence of absolute symmetry of the horns is curious, and if you look closer, you can see that the left horn is rounded to the left, and the right mirror reflects the shape of the left. In adult males, the height of the horns reaches 1.5 meters. In females, these processes are much smaller, usually do not exceed the size of 20-30 centimeters, but the symmetry, like the representatives of the male sex, is preserved.

As for the size, the length of the body of goats can reach up to 2 meters, the height at the withers most often is a maximum of 90 centimeters, and the largest animal weight is usually about 95 kilograms. All this applies to males. If we talk about females, then they are much smaller than males, therefore, indicators of size and weight are also small.

In goat goats, the color changes depending on the season. The density of the hairline also changes. The winter period colors animals in a reddish color with shades of gray, just gray individuals can also be found, sometimes goats with a white color come across. Wool is very thick and long in winter. In summer, the color of the animals becomes bright red.

The hair on the neck and chest of the goat is very long and has a white color with occurring black strands.

Habitat

Very often goat goats can be found on steep slopes, and one wonders how they keep at such a significant slope and at such a high altitude of more than 3 kilometers. This species is considered very hardy, and also demonstrates exceptional dexterity. These qualities allow the goat to quickly climb the cliff in order to find the necessary vegetation that can be enjoyed. Capricorn goats in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, more precisely in the mountainous parts of these countries, catch my eye. It can also be found in Turkmenistan and Tajikistan.

Character

Representatives of this species prefer to live in a pack, the number of goals in which depends on the time of year. Basically, females gather in a separate flock, and, for example, in the summer, the number of females in it can reach 12.

In winter, the flock can replenish with males, and the number of goals increases almost several times. Flocks with a livestock of one hundred individuals of goat goats have been encountered for quite some time, but now such cases are quite rare.

The average number of one herd today is about 20 animals, and most of them are adults, most often males. Females, due to their small size and weakness, sometimes die, not even reaching adulthood.

The character of the male goat goat is by no means mild and sometimes even very aggressive. If two males do not share something, then they can start a fight. Typically, such battles take place on the edge of cliffs or gorges, which is associated with a great risk to life.

Location

The location of the herd directly depends on how the goat will move.He can do this vertically up or down, rising or falling over the rocks depending on the season. So, for example, in the summer goats can be found at the highest points of steep cliffs or mountains, but in the winter they go much lower due to the fact that it becomes more difficult to get food under the thick snow cover. Sometimes, if danger is at the bottom of the goats, they stop the descent.

Mostly goats prefer the cool season. It is then that they are most active and can feed or frolic all day. Usually feeding occurs in the morning and evening hours. If the weather is quite hot, then the representatives of the species tend to hide from the heat in the shade of rocks or tall trees. In the daytime, goats can be found in open space, but in the evening they prefer to hide in the rocks, because they are afraid of meeting the enemy or bad weather.

Enemies

Among the natural enemies of animals include predators such as:

• Lynxes
• Wolves
• Snow leopards.

Most often, young individuals suffer from predator attacks. That is why, after active replenishment of the herd in the spring, not all individuals survive by the fall, and in the fall the number of young growth is almost halved.

Also dangerous for goats is the person who kills these animals due to unusually beautiful horns. And, despite the fact that hunting for marchurs is prohibited, this does not stop poachers at all.

Nutrition

As already mentioned, Markhurs usually eat in the morning or evening hours. In spring, the main food of the goat goats is their usual vegetation, which includes:

• cereal crops;
• shoots of trees;
• leaves;
• grass.

In the spring, representatives of this species are also not averse to feasting on fresh shoots and leaves. In autumn, the diet of goats practically does not change, only the dried leaves replace the young foliage. In winter, when all the foliage has already fallen and dried completely, the goats feed on branches of almonds, honeysuckle or needles. Sometimes in the diet you can find maple.

Due to the fact that vegetation in the mountains is sometimes rare, marhurs are forced to periodically descend to flat surfaces. And during the descent, mountain goats love to feast on the bark of trees, which negatively affects the restoration of the forest.

Goats' favorite food is the evergreen oak. In summer, it pleases with rich and lush foliage, and in winter, horned goats feed on acorns. In order to quench their thirst, animals descend to mountain streams or rivers, and can also get enough of water bodies formed after thawed snow. In winter, the goats do not even have to look for a pond - they can use snow as a drink.

Offspring and total life expectancy

The race for representatives of this species begins in November and lasts until December. Most often, males who have reached the age of three years and puberty participate in the rut. The rutting process takes place in the form of a constant struggle for the female’s attention, and as a result a so-called harem group is formed around the male, consisting of about 6 or 7 species of sexually mature animals.

The fetus is hatched by the female for six months, after which one or two goats are born. Childbirth usually occurs in the spring. The kid is able to take the first steps the very next day after birth, and throughout the entire period of growing up the baby tirelessly follows his mother. The first few days, the kid feeds on young shoots and grass, as for feeding milk, it is carried out until the fall.

Most of the offspring dies in the first months after birth, and this is due to the difficult conditions in which these animals live, living on rocks and getting their own food. On average, goat goats live up to 10 years, and very rarely die precisely from old age. The cause of death is human behavior - hunting for rare species of goat goats, as well as the living conditions of these animals, which have to flee from predators or avalanches falling from the mountains in winter.

The horned goat is listed in the Red Book, as the population of this animal species is rapidly declining. Mankind directs all efforts to preserve this species, protecting it from extermination by poachers and creating all conditions for procreation. So, for example, several reserves have already been created, where there are goat goats. Animals are carefully guarded and periodically observed.

Video: Horned Goat (Capra falconeri)