🐐 Mountain Goat

Not a true goat, but the best climber on the continent.

2–3.5 in long. Cloven, boxy, toes splay widely. Squared-off front edge. Deep rubbery pad center. Tracks on impossible-looking rock.

Alpine cliffs and talus above treeline. Northern Rockies, Cascades, coastal Alaska.

Diurnal

Alpine grasses, lichens, shrubs

Mountain goats crave salt and will follow hikers for it — a reason to keep distance.