Following up on yesterday’s post, “Mountain Goats, Part 1”, two of the goats decided to leave the snow-covered hillside and wander into the parking lot … and even in the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Here are some images I captured as they walked around the parking lot, road and nearby boardwalk:
In the second image, you can see the highly-developed hooves of the mountain goat. The mountain goat’s feet are well-suited for climbing steep, rocky slopes with pitches exceeding 60°, with inner pads that provide traction and cloven hooves that can spread apart. The tips of their feet have sharp dewclaws that keep them from slipping.
It was also interesting to see how their winter coats were already being shed, especially considering the big snowstorm that hit the area just a couple of weeks ago. This “ragged” look is not a photogenic attribute, but is part of transitioning into their cooler, new coats for the summer (which will continue to grow and thicken into next winter’s coat).
Photographic Equipment Used:
- Canon 7D body
- Canon EF100-400mm, f/4.5-5.6, IS lens, shot from 170mm to 400mm
- Handheld, with IS “On”
- ISO 250
- Aperture f/5 and f/5.6
- Shutter 1/200 sec. to 1/640 sec.