Mountain goats are among nature’s most amazing athletes. Powerful, nimble and sure-footed, they’re able to jump 12 feet in a single movement, from a sheer cliff to a winding path below with the acrobatic precision of a gymnast. Unfortunately, these mountaineering marvels are threatened with extinction as the glacial habitat they need to survive melts away, according to a new study.
Without the critical “air conditioning” provided by glacial ice and snow in high-altitude alpine regions, mountain goats are more vulnerable to heat stress and hyperthermia, scientists said in a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One on the effects of human-driven climate change on the species.
Glacier National Park, where a study took place, has already lost three-fourths of the more than 100 glaciers that existed when the park was established in 1910, and snow patches are also vanishing. Scientists are curious to learn more about how — or if — mountain goats will adapt to a warming climate.
Even without the current pressures of climate change, mountain goats have a complicated legacy and future in Montana.
They have no close relatives in the New World, and they left behind their cousins — the gorals, serows and chamois — in Europe and Asia when they arrived here 40,000 years ago. The agility that makes them such an enticing target for wildlife photographers makes them an elusive quarry for hunters. Outside of the national park where they’re protected, it’s estimated there are three to four times fewer mountain goats in Montana today than the 4,100 counted in the 1940s.
To determine how climate change affects mountain goats, scientists from the University of Montana, Glacier National Park and Wildlife Conservation Society relied on satellite GPS tracking of collared mountain goats in the national park, but importantly, also on field observations over four summers, from 2013 to 2016.
Those on-the-ground observations revealed some key insights that separate the study from previous research on the effects of a warming climate on the species. They concluded mountain goats lack the flexibility of some other large mammals to adapt to rising temperatures, and a dependence on snowy habitat puts their populations at risk.
Researchers discovered mountain goats not only sought out their natural cooling stations in the summertime to reduce heat stress, their breathing rate decreased by as much as 15 percent when they were resting in snow. Resting under the shade of trees didn’t give them any relief from summertime heat, and their breathing was still rapid and labored, the scientists noted.
Scientists already have a good idea of how climate change has shaped mountain goats’ range.
The species disappeared entirely from the Grand Canyon, although they were prevalent there 10,000 years ago when the North American climate was cooler, according to the University of Montana’s Wesley Sarmento, one of the study’s authors.
“Certainly,” Sarmento said in a statement announcing the publication of the study, “increasing temperatures and drier weather ultimately contributed to their extinction in that area.”
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Glacier National Park scientist Mark Biel said the research sheds an important light on the effects of climate change on the iconic animals and their habitat.
“How certain species may adapt as the changes continue is critical in understanding their persistence on the landscape into the future,” Biel said in the statement.
The study holds implications for mountain goats elsewhere, especially for Alaska’s coastal mountains, where summer habitat is expected to shrink up to 86 percent over the next 70 years due to such factors as forest encroachment, which will fragment habitat, reduce food availability and reduce predator detection.
Ensuring that mountain goats can access the cool spots that keep their populations healthy and comfortable will require deliberate action on multiple fronts, the scientists said.
Joel Berger, a senior scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society, said the study draws analogies beyond alpine animals.
“Just as people are feeling the heat of a warming planet, with thousands and thousands struggling during summer without natural cooling systems, we’re seeing very clearly that what happens to people is also happening to animals,” he said in the statement. “We’re all in this together.”
Did You Know?
Mountain goats seem to effortlessly — even fearlessly — scale elevations many human climbers wouldn’t attempt. The reason:
Cloven hooves with two toes spread far apart help the goats maintain balance, and roughly textured pads on the bottom of the toes help them grip the surface, maintain traction and avoid slippage.