And this little goat had a house of rocks

April 30, 2019 6:32 PM

The Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana) is a desert-dwelling goat species (Wikipedia), famed for their ability to climb sheer rock faces from a young age (YouTube). They not only climb rock walls, they sometimes inhabit them (Imgur GIF, stick for the ending).
posted by filthy light thief (17 comments total)

Here in Southeast Alaska we have mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus) and they are similarly amazing, traversing sheer cliffs that have 1000+ foot drops straight to the waters of the fjords of Misty Fiords National Monument, just to get to a clump of greenery that's growing in a cleft somewhere.

Very rarely, if I'm up in the alpine zone, I may run into a small group of them on the trail but it's more common for me to spot them as little more than moving dots on the steepest slopes of mountains opposite whichever I am climbing. They're quite beautiful and totally in their element to an extent that is hard to believe, even when you are seeing it for yourself with your own eyes.
posted by Nerd of the North at 6:51 PM on April 30, 2019 [5 favorites]

Also known to children everywhere as the 'wow not a lot of animals start with 'i'' animal in alphabet books.
posted by Space Coyote at 6:51 PM on April 30, 2019 [6 favorites]

I grew up climbing very steep things without thinking about it, and these critters, like various other mountain goats, among other things fill me with a profound sense of longing for a bygone sense of sprightliness and derring-do.

Also they're cute as hell.
posted by aspersioncast at 7:50 PM on April 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

Also known to children everywhere as the 'wow not a lot of animals start with 'i'' animal in alphabet books.

There's an impala here who would like to have a word with you.

[I personally think the ibex gets more letter-book fame because "ibex" is just a fun word to say. I mean "impala" isn't bad, but.. "ibex!"]
posted by Nerd of the North at 8:06 PM on April 30, 2019 [5 favorites]

Dear god, I am not an animal which does well with heights. I'm glad these critters feel safe and skilled in those places. I would not.

Also: iguana
posted by hippybear at 8:24 PM on April 30, 2019 [2 favorites]

their next boop... could be their last
posted by not_on_display at 8:25 PM on April 30, 2019 [3 favorites]

Ibises represent!


Also, I do rather grimly wonder how many of the young ones do have tragic falls. I can’t imagine they are perfectly immune to mistakes.
posted by darkstar at 8:30 PM on April 30, 2019 [3 favorites]

Goats are nice :’)
posted by gucci mane at 8:41 PM on April 30, 2019

I'm curious where the Imgur gif is from. The caves in the cliff face look like they are human-carved,but they also look too shallow to be any kind of dwelling or storage. Are they tombs? Or just some unusual erosion?
posted by tavella at 8:52 PM on April 30, 2019

Darling little pronkers.
posted by allthinky at 8:54 PM on April 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

These little cuties were featured in the latest episode of Hostile Planet on NatGeo, just watched it last night. It was the Desert episode. Highly recommend. Gorgeous cinematography.

Note: it is called Hostile Planet. Animals get eaten, even cute ones.
posted by the webmistress at 9:08 PM on April 30, 2019

Also, is this the same area where eagles prey on goats? Eagles aren’t able to kill a goat outright, but I’ve seen a documentary where they swoop and snag a goat, just enough to drag it off of a cliff, then let go. The eagle then has a meal.


Crows & goats are awesome.

Eagles are bastards.
posted by darkstar at 9:22 PM on April 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

Their scouts are the worst. All smug, with their little sashes of badges. Feh!
posted by hippybear at 9:25 PM on April 30, 2019 [6 favorites]

There used to be (and maybe still are; it's been a while since I have driven that way) a small group of goats living up on the basalt cliffs on the Columbia River near Wallula Gap. They were all different colors; the story I was told was that they were former farm goats that had either escaped or been let loose and had settled on the cliffs. There can't have been much to eat on the vertical cliff face, but I saw them there for years.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:24 AM on May 1, 2019

I'm curious where the Imgur gif is from. The caves in the cliff face look like they are human-carved,but they also look too shallow to be any kind of dwelling or storage. Are they tombs? Or just some unusual erosion?

I was also curious, but looking at some of the scenes in the PBS YouTube clip, I assumed it was in (very broadly) the same arid, rocky region. Early on, you see the goat rub its horns against the cliffs, and it looks like the rocky soil falls away pretty readily. It's solid enough to not crumble and climb upon, but can be shaped with tough horns.

My loose theory is that some caves formed naturally from erosion, and the goats enlarged them with their horns and possibly hooves.
posted by filthy light thief at 6:55 AM on May 1, 2019 [2 favorites]

....and this series of dug-out tunnels is where they hide the rest of the five-million-strong Ibex Army....
posted by not_on_display at 5:57 PM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

Also known to children everywhere as the 'wow not a lot of animals start with 'i'' animal in alphabet books.

I'd like to suggest iguanas, but I also think the fact that we can enumerate the species whose English names start with I is telling.
posted by WizardOfDocs at 8:32 PM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]