Mountain Goats

Mountain goats have been among the least studied of North American ungulates, leaving wildlife managers with little information on which to base harvest strategies or conservation plans. This book offers the first comprehensive assessment of the ecology and behavior of mountain goats, setting forth the results of a remarkable 16-year longitudinal study of more than 300 marked individuals in a population in Alberta, Canada. The authors’ thorough, long-term study allowed them to draw important conclusions about mountain goat ecology—including individual reproductive strategies, population dynamics, and sensitivity to human disturbance—and to use those conclusions in offering guidance for developing effective conservation strategies. Chapters examine: -habitat use, vegetation quality, and seasonal movements -sexual segregation and social organization -individual variability in yearly and lifetime reproductive success of females -age- and sex-specific survival and dispersal -reproductive strategies and population dynamics -management and conservation of mountain goats The book also draws on the rich literature on long-term monitoring of marked ungulates to explore similarities and differences between mountain goats and other species, particularly bighorn sheep and ibex. By monitoring a marked population over a long period of time, researchers were able to document changes in sex-age structure and identify factors driving population dynamics. Because it explores the links between individual life-history strategy and population dynamics in a natural setting, Mountain Goats will be an invaluable resource for wildlife managers, researchers in ecology and animal behavior, conservationists, population biologists, and anyone concerned with the ecology and management of natural populations, especially in alpine environments.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “It’s never quite the book you think it is. It’s better.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times From John Darnielle, the New York Times bestselling author and the singer-songwriter of the Mountain Goats, comes an epic, gripping novel about murder, truth, and the dangers of storytelling. Gage Chandler is descended from kings. That’s what his mother always told him. Years later, he is a true crime writer, with one grisly success—and a movie adaptation—to his name, along with a series of subsequent less notable efforts. But now he is being offered the chance for the big break: to move into the house where a pair of briefly notorious murders occurred, apparently the work of disaffected teens during the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. Chandler finds himself in Milpitas, California, a small town whose name rings a bell––his closest childhood friend lived there, once upon a time. He begins his research with diligence and enthusiasm, but soon the story leads him into a puzzle he never expected—back into his own work and what it means, back to the very core of what he does and who he is. Devil House is John Darnielle’s most ambitious work yet, a book that blurs the line between fact and fiction, that combines daring formal experimentation with a spellbinding tale of crime, writing, memory, and artistic obsession.

"In North America there is one large animal that belongs almost entirely to the realm of towering rock and unmelting snow. Pressing hard against the upper limit of life's possibilities, it exists higher and steeper throughout the year than any other big beast on the continent. It is possibly the best and most complete mountaineer that ever existed on any continent. Oreamnos americanus is its scientific name. Its common name is mountain goat." Resourceful, belligerent, and unbelievably sure-footed, the mountain goat is a white-coated survivor from the Ice Age. Oreamnos americanus shares its dizzying alpine world with elk, eagles, bighorn sheep, and grizzlies. This first full-length book on the mountain goat offers a superbly written portrait of its life, habits, and environment. Douglas H. Chadwick tracked mountain goat herds for seven years, and his observations are richly textured and replete with fascinating and dramatic details. We learn of the mountain goats' lives from birth to adulthood, their feeding habits, unique social behavior and courtship rituals, and their long history. Chadwick also makes clear the troubling and escalating impact of the modern world on the mountain goat's wilderness home. This Bison Books edition features a new introduction by the author.

No one climbs mountains like a mountain goat can! These nimble-footed critters easily scale steep slopes. Beginning readers will learn all about the adaptations that help mountain goats flourish in their rocky biome, from hard hooves to shaggy fur. Features including diet sidebars and range map support and add clarity to the text in this colorful, informative title.

Harada treks to the far reaches of Glacier National Park to document its iconic wild animal, the mountain goat. Harada has spent the last eighteen years studying and photographing these agile creatures, capturing rare and awe-inspiring images in each of Glacier's spectacular seasons. Experience the dramas that play out on the Park's knife-edge peaks among the Mountain Goats of Glacier National Park. Biologist and writer Kathleen Yale lends her sensitive and insightful writing to the book, detailing the fascinating behaviors of these unique animals, from the bliss of spring to the challenges of winter.

John Darnielle describesMaster of Reality in the voice of a fifteen-year-old boy being held in an adolescent psychiatric center in southern California in 1985. The narrator explains Black Sabbath like an emissary from an alien race describing his culture to his captors: passionately, patiently, and lovingly.

Beautifully written and unexpectedly moving, John Darnielle's audacious and gripping debut novel Wolf in White Van is a marvel of storytelling and genuine literary delicacy. Welcome to Trace Italian, a game of strategy and survival! You may now make your first move. Isolated by a disfiguring injury since the age of seventeen, Sean Phillips crafts imaginary worlds for strangers to play in. From his small apartment in southern California, he orchestrates fantastic adventures where possibilities, both dark and bright, open in the boundaries between the real and the imagined. His primary creation, Trace Italian, is an intricate text-role playing game that enables participants far and wide to explore a dystopian America, seeking refuge amidst the ruin. However, when two high school players, Lance and Carrie, extend the game into their reality, the consequences are horrifying, leaving Sean to account for it. Darnielle’s Wolf in White Van invites us to comprehend the depth and intricacy of Sean's life. Told in reverse, the story draws us back to the moment that fundamentally altered Sean’s life as he knows it.

As their name suggests, these agile climbers and champion leapers live in North America’s mountains. Discover the adaptations that make mountain goats so suited to their often inhospitable habitat and the seasonal cycle of mountain goat life. Readers will be entranced by breathtaking photographs of both the animals themselves and the awe-inspiring peaks they call home.