Friday, June 25, 2010

Not a true goat: Mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus) - maximum card (USA)


It looks like a goat, it walks like a goat, but...it's not a true goat! :)
"The Mountain Goat (Oreamnos americanus), also known as the Rocky Mountain Goat, is a large-hoofed mammal found only in North America. Despite its vernacular name, it is not a member of Capra, the genus of true goats. It resides at high elevations and is a sure-footed climber, often resting on rocky cliffs that predators cannot reach."
"The mountain goat is an even-toed ungulate of the order Artiodactyla and the family Bovidae that includes antelopesgazelles, and cattle. It belongs to the subfamily Caprinae (goat-antelopes), along with thirty-two other species including true goats,sheep, the chamois, and the musk ox. The mountain goat is the only species in the genus Oreamnos. The name Oreamnos is derived from the Greek term oros (stemore-) "mountain" (or, alternatively, oreas "mountain nymph") and the word amnos"lamb".
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Happy PFF!
:)