THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT 15 
he is rarely attacked by the lion, wolf, or bear. 
True, the kids are sometimes captured by eagles. 
There are a number of species of wild goats 
in the Old World—in southern Europe, in 
many places in Asia and in northern Africa. 
The white Rocky Mountain goat is the only 
representative of his species on our continent. 
He is related to the chamois. Some scientists 
say that this fellow is not a goat at all, but 
that he is a descendant of the Asiatic antelope, 
which came to America about half a million 
years ago. This classification, however, is not 
approved by a number of scientists. The 
Rocky Mountain goat, Oreamnos montanus, is 
in no way related to the American antelope, 
and it would take a post-mortem demonstra- 
tion to show the resemblance to the African 
species. 
By any other name he would still be unique. 
Dressed in shaggy, baggy knickerbockers, he is 
a living curiosity. I never see one standing 
still without thinking of his being made up of 
odds and ends, of a caricature making a ludi- 
crous pretense of being alive and looking 
solemn. And then I remember that this ani- 
mal is the mountaineer of mountaineers. 
