Re: mountain goat whose special leg adaptation for living on steep incline

Date: Sun Apr 15 13:31:16 2001
Posted By: Rob Campbell, Ph.D Candidate, Oceanography, University of British Columbia
Area of science: Zoology
ID: 987295479.Zo

Message:

Hi Carol:

The legs of mountain goats are the same length on each side. If you think about it, having shorter legs on one side would mean it could only walk one direction on an incline (if it tried to go the other way, the longer legs would be uphill, actually making it more difficult to get around). Animals are generally symmetrical; that probably arises due to the way that organisms develop from a one-celled egg.

Mountain goats do have a few special adaptations for living on cliffs though:

Short legs: Mountain goats have comparatively short legs (compared to other goats)- that lowers their centre of gravity and makes them more stable.

Strong front legs: Mountain goats have powerfully developed front legs and shoulders, so much the better to pull themselves up rock faces

Non-slip pads: Mountain goats also have special hooves, with a tough outer shell, and a soft, sticky inner pad. The hard shell can be used on rocks and to dig in, while the soft pads prevent slipping on smoother surfaces.

Most of this came from a short article from EXN that I recommend you check out: Extreme mountain goats.
There's also lots of other information on the web- have a look at this search courtesy of google.com.

Hope that helps!
Rob Campbell, MAD Scientist

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