- All white pelage with beard and leg chaps - Prominent shoulder hump - Short, black recurved horns with pointed tips - Have post-cornual gland (horn glands)

How can you tell mountain goat males from females? 5 ways

1. Group composition: Males typically found alone, Females with juveniles 2. Urination posture: Males stretch, females squat 3. Genitalia: - Male scrotum visible at close range - Black vulva patch of female may be visible if tail raised 4. Body Size and Pelage: - Males higher at shoulder than females and have larger beards, shoulder hair and leg chaps 5. Horn shape and size: Males have thicker horns at base and tips have gradual taper. Females taper with sharper curve

Mountain goat habitat

High and steep -¾ time on cliff faces away from predators -¼ time in alpine meadows adjacent to cliffs

Mountain goat food and feeding

Summer = grass grazing Winter = shrub browsing Use mineral licks late spring -summer Never far from cliffs for safety

When are mountain goats sexually mature? (Different for males and females)

Females in 3rd year Male in 5th or 6th year

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep subspecies scientific name

Ovis canadensis canadensis

Stone's Sheep (thinhorn) subspecies scientific name

Ovis dalli stonei

Dall’s Sheep (thinhorn) subspecies scientific name

Ovis dalli dalli

What is considered a full curl on a thinhorn sheep?

Tip of horn goes beyond snout

What is considered a full curl on a bighorn?

Tip of horn goes beyond eye-horn base line

What is considered a 3/4 curl on a bighorn?

Tip of horn goes beyond back of eye line??

Physical characteristics of Rocky mountain bighorn

Brown with white on muzzle, belly, inside legs and rump Short black tail Females smaller horns

Describe RM bighorn social behaviour

- Males live in bachelor groups except during rut - Nursery groups consist of adult females with lambs and young males - Herds usually <40 animals; males in smaller groups than females, larger mixed herds during rut

Dall's sheep physical characteristics

- Mostly white body with yellowish horns - Mature rams have full-curled, flared horns

Stone's sheep physical characteristics

- Blackish pelage with greyish head and neck - white muzzle, belly, inside of legs and rump patch; black tail -Horn colour can be brown on outside edge and yellowish on the inside edge

Mountain sheep habitat

-open, treeless habitat for foraging with steep, rocky areas close by for escape -Rams take greater risks than ewes Summer = major rivers Winters = steep, wind-swept, south facing slopes

When are mountain sheep sexually mature?

1.5 years

Plains bison subspecies scientific name

Bos bison bison

Wood bison subspecies scientific name

Bos bison athabascae

What is the conservation status of Bison?

Threatened/Red listed

What is the difference between plains and wood bison?

Cape and chaps more distinctive in Plains bison Wood = Highest point of hump forward of shoulders Plains = directly over shoulders

Bison rutting behaviour

Wallowing and head butting