Travertine terraces formed by the outflow from a geyser- 

 like spring in Yellowstone. These crystalline formations 

 may cascade down whole mountainsides but are usually 

 destroyed by earthquakes or landslides. 



places such as the mountains of southwestern Colorado. There 

 are still some of the original dwarf race in California, and 

 descendants of others are spread all over the mountainous 

 regions of the West from Alaska to Arizona. The great show 

 place of these animals is the Jackson Hole country in what is 

 now Grand Teton National Park. Wyoming. There the animals 

 spend the winter in the National Elk Refuge near the town of 

 Jackson, moving up into the highlands surrounding that valley in 

 the summer. When snow again covers those highlands they 

 return. These herds are almost domesticated today, and it is 

 perhaps more interesting to meet them away from the partly 

 artificial though excellent administration of the conservationists. 

 Elk have a kind of majesty not possessed either by our other 

 deer or by any other animal on this continent, and a large stag 

 with a full set of antlers is a most arresting sight. In the fall, 

 large males may often be encountered alone in the mountain 

 glens of this area. Although shy animals with a keen sense of 

 hearing, these lone ones seem not to be difficult to approach. 

 Although they probably become aware of you before you see 

 them, they may remain perfectly still with ears held wide so 

 that you come upon them staring directly at you. The Moose is 

 almost a monstrosity, and the little Mule Deer is almost fragile, 

 whereas the Reindeer is frankly gawky: but the Elk's body is a 

 perfect symphony of construction and proportion. In movement 

 it has a grace that surpasses that of the most delicate of the 

 gazelles, yet it may exceed a large ox in bulk. I once saw one 

 jump a rocky stream almost from a standing start; it soared over 

 with its forelegs bent back almost to its chest, exactly like those 

 deer depicted on vases and ceramics of the classical period. 



MOUNTAIN CAPERS 



This area is also the home of two other ungulates that many 

 have heard about but probably never seen. These are the Bighorn 

 or Rocky Mountain Sheep and the so-called Rocky Mountain 

 Goat. This latter name is not strictly accurate, for the animal is 

 not a goat but belongs to a genus known as the rock-goats or 

 Rupicaprinae, which includes the Chamois of Europe and the 

 gorals and serows of Asia, but these pure white, shaggy-haired 

 creatures are entirely goatlike in appearance, even to having a 

 beard. They are among the most daring climbers in the animal 

 world but look to be extraordinarily clumsy. They live on the 

 tops of the steeper mountains and seem to be especially fond of 

 screes: across these they rush headlong and with apparent 

 abandon. Their hoofs are odd. being of the consistency of tire 

 rubber but encased in a hard sheath forming a sharp edge 

 around the undersides, so that each is a kind of cup with sucker- 

 like qualities. Their antics are not quite so hair-raising as those 

 of the European Chamois, which will sail out into the air and 

 land on a prominence about the size of a man's hand, but they 

 negotiate precipices that look perfectly smooth and vertical, and 

 they can cover ground at unexpected speed. They almost always 

 go uphill to avoid danger and seem happiest when above the 

 grass line. In fact, their principal food is the montane tundra 

 mosses and lichens, and they stay in these wind-swept altitudes 

 all year round. 



The young stay with the parents for a year, and then, in 

 November, numbers of families get together for a brief mating 

 period. After this they separate again: the young are born the 

 following spring. They are fairly common animals in Alaska, 

 the Yukon, and British Columbia. There are some on the 

 Cascades, but otherwise they are found in the United States only 

 in this Northern Montane Province, where their numbers are 

 now given as about ten thousand. 



The Bighorn Sheep has a much wider distribution, being 

 found from northern Alaska to the Sierra Madre Occidental in 

 Mexico. It is found in isolated areas throughout the Southern 

 Montane Pine Province and in western Texas and New Mexico. 

 It used also to inhabit many lower ranges, even in the Dakotas. 

 The last one in the Sierra Nevada is said to have been shot in 

 1909. but skulls are still occasionally found on the mountain 

 heights. It is a true sheep but has a thick coat of hair instead of 

 wool. Both sexes bear horns, but those of the males are much 

 larger. They are grazers as opposed to browsers, and they drift 

 about all year following the best grass growths: but they can sub- 

 sist on mosses and leaves, and they dig down through the winter 

 snows to get at food. In their northern range they perform 

 regular migrations up to the mountain tops in summer and 

 down into the valleys in winter. They once probably did this 

 everywhere, and the habit may have been the cause of their 

 extinction in so many areas, for they have always been merci- 

 lessly hunted at lower altitudes. 



A large proportion of individuals of this species show, in 

 captivity, what appears to be high intelligence. They are strangely 

 discerning and learn to accomplish some surprising things 

 readily, such as opening mechanical locks on gates and so forth. 

 In this respect they seem to far surpass their relatives such as the 

 Mouflon and the Aoudad. and amongst domestic animals they 

 are matched only by the very strange Badian Sheep that were 

 originally brought from Africa (though where in Africa nobody 

 has ever found out) to Barbados in the West Indies. 



Unlike most animals, especially hoofed animals, the herd or 

 flock leaders are males: and, although several rams may get 

 along peaceably in a flock, if two of the leaders meet they more 



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