Here in the great state of Colorado, we live with wildlife. It's just a simple fact that we all accept and deal with and when I say "deal with" it's more like the animals are "dealing with" us humans because we are the ones that keep infringing on their territory.

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One of the animals that we will see in the wild, especially when you go to the more extreme higher elevations is the mountain goat and bighorn sheep. Now if you're like me, you've spent most of your life living under a rock and thinking they were the same animal but no, they are two different animals, similar but not the same animal.

Mountain goats and Bighorn sheep live in similar habitats, but there are some key differences between the two. Bighorn sheep have larger and stronger horns, while mountain goats have longer fur. There’s also a difference in color between the two – the goats are white, while the sheep are brown.

 

Mountain Goat

Unsplash/Ray Aucott
Unsplash/Ray Aucott
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Bighorn Sheep

Unsplash/Paxon Woelber
Unsplash/Paxon Woelber
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So there you have it, the bighorn sheep has the much stronger ram horns and the mountain goat's horns are skinnier and straighter while the mountain goat's fur is longer and whiter than the bighorn sheep.

Now that we know the differences between a mountain goat and a bighorn sheep (and if you already did, good for you) the main question I've always had is how in the heck do the scale cliffs and seemingly sheer rock cliffs in those hooves?

 

YouTube/Victorious Nature

 

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