Just as I can’t survive on chocolate alone, mountain goats can’t on one type of food. They need to be able to freely move around to be able to consume a variety of food to survive. During the winter is when they are most challenged to find enough food. During the summer when they start putting back the weight, have milk for their kids and start working on their new winter coat for the coming winter. In the summer, they consume grasses, lichens, mosses, sedges and various flowering plants. Since goats are ruminants, which is an even-toed ungulate mammal that chews the cud regurgitated from its rumen. Putting their four stomachs to work, helped by microbes to break down coarse plants. If they are not able to get certain minerals through their regular diet, goats at some places are known to travel 25 km to lick natural salt deposits. The kid in this picture can relax while the nanny licks up the important mineral her body needs and to be able to pass on through her milk when nursing. But along the way, her offspring will learn from its mother where to go for all the nutrients it will need when it is on its own.
