Mountain Goat Archives | JuneauNature

The overseer

We’re privileged in Áak’w & T’aakú Aaní to live in almost constant proximity to Jánwu, Oreamnus americanus. Not only that; we can usually locate and watch her. Unlike other large wildlife, who strive for cryptic behavior and coloration, Jánwu adopts an anti-camouflage lifeway. Instead of running or hiding, she just climbs to the nearest overlook, too airy for wolf or bruin to follow.

Billy Onehorn was 9 years old in May, 2021, when I took this picture, the only male among 6 missing-horn goats we’ve been following across Goatlandia’s summer and winter ranges,. The others are females: Nanny Knockoff, Nanny Nohorn, Nanny Lefthorn Quarterhorn, and Pencilhorn. Friends have sent additional one-horn goat-pics from ranges nearby, likewise all female.

If you’re in Jánwu’s viewshed, she’s obviously in yours. Only Yáay, humpback whale, is more reliably available to researchers, educators, tourists, and CBJ outdoorsfolk. And while Yáay-watch usually involves boats and gas-consumption, Jánwu poses for anyone with proper optics and footgear.

Southeast ridgewalkers often have close encounters with Jánwu . But even from sea level we can follow her activities. Summertime hikers in upper Áak’w Táak, inland from little lake (Mendenhall Valley) or Dzantik’i Héeni (Gold Creek) Basin are well advised to pack binoculars. Sweep the alpine and subalpine ridges, looking for CIBs (credible ivory blobs), perceptibly yellower than lingering snow patches. Better yet, with tripod-mounted scope, you can easily distinguish adults from kids and yearlings out to about a mile, and at closer range make a guess at subtler differences between males and females.

Alaska Dept of Fish and Game’s website has an outstanding section on age/gender identification. It’s aimed at hunters, in an effort to reduce percentage of females killed. But becoming proficient at goat ID enhances anyone’s appreciation of goat culture and ecology. I recommend perusing the ID pages, then taking the 25-question quiz.

Research on Oreamnos has mostly focused on drier, interior mountains. A great example comes from our inland neighbor, Smithers, home to the BC Mountain Goat Society. I strongly recommend the videos, linked from their Gallery page. Seasonal movements of our wet-range coastal populations show notable differences. Instead of wintering on high, windswept ridges where grasses and alpine forbs remain available, coastal goats typically descend, sometimes nearly to sea level.

An intensive telemetry study by Kevin White and colleagues, spanning 2005-2012, was designed to assess impacts of a proposed Juneau Access road, but hugely enhanced our understanding of nearly all aspects of coastal-Jánwu morphology, life history, habitat selection, and even genetics. I’ve relied heavily on their findings since beginning intensive goat studies in October, 2020.

Kevin gave a great talk on F&G’s goat research in Feb 2019, archived on Juneau Audubon’s facebook page, a fine way to learn about goats and their habitat.

Scroll through In this section, below, for links to downloads and slideshows on Lingít Aaní’s Overseer.