When Do Mountain Goats Shed Winter Coats?

We are interested in how an iconic North American alpine species is coping with thermal change. As such, we are evaluating if the timing of winter coat molt in mountain goats may be shifting to earlier in the year. We are also exploring the effects on molt of elevation, latitude, vegetation green-up, goat sex and presence of new kids.

More broadly, we are keen to engage the general public in thinking about climate change in relatable ways (when do you take your winter coat off compared with when other mammals do?). We wish to explore the extent to which scientific questions about wildlife can be addressed using crowd-sourced photographs or "community photography" and how far back in time we can go. Also, and importantly, we are motivated to explore non-invasive approaches to wildlife research, and photographs provide one such way.

Why mountain goats? They are iconic, cold-adapted, alpine animals with two-layered winter coats. They are well-photographed across their range making them suitable subjects for our research. We are excited about conserving and understanding them better!

Thank you for drawing / putting your cursors to your screens for mountain goats!