According to information provided at last week’s goat presentation by Alaska Department of Fish and Game:
-43 percent of mountain goats die from avalanches. 10 percent die from wolf predation and 3 percent die from bear predation. The causes of 43 percent of goat deaths are unknown to researchers.
-If a population declines or goes extinct in a local geographical region, it’s not likely to be saved by goats from other areas. Besides goats in the Canadian Rockies, mountain goats in the Haines area have the highest genetic diversity among North America goat populations. Goats here rarely stray from the local ridges they live on.
-The genetic difference between goats on Takhin ridge and ones on Takshanuk ridge, just a few miles away, is equivalent to the difference seen in moose populations in interior Alaska that are separated by 200-300 miles.
-Mountain goats stick around their summer and winter home ranges. In some cases winter ranges can be as small as 950 meters wide.
-It takes mountain goats longer to recover from population decline compared to deer and moose. Female mountain goats don’t give birth until they’re about 4-5 years old, much later than deer or moose. During her lifetime, a female mountain goat produces on average 3.4 kids. On average, a female moose has 6.8 calves. A female deer produces around 9.2 fawns.