Question: What are the main differences between goats and mountain goats?

Kevin Mahon answered on 21 Jun 2012:

Funnily enough, Mountain goats aren’t technically ‘goats’ at all. True Goats are found in the group ‘Capra’ and mountain goats are members of the ‘Oreamnos’. So they are related but different in many ways!

There are several important differences, firstly habitat – mountain goats are more commonly found in (you guessed it) mountains than regular goats.

Mountain goats alos differ in appearance, having specialised hooves to survive in their environment, as well as having different horns. Mountain goat horns grow shorter, slenderer and pointier than those of true goats.

They also have more specialised coats to keep them warmer!

The mountain goat’s name isn’t entirely off the mark – it certainly is ‘goat like’ but again, its not really a goat and its just another example of humans naming something incorrectly because of how it looks! (see also the killer ‘whale’ and the ‘sea horse’!)