Arizona has no wild mountain goats, and the shaggy white mountain goat of the northern Rockies never lived there naturally. The cliffs are far from empty, though. Arizona’s own horned rock-climber is a different animal that people often mistake for a goat. The state’s goat-free status is also recent in the long view, since a now-vanished relative of the mountain goat once lived in the Grand Canyon.1PubMed Central. Extinction of Harrington’s mountain goat
The Horned Climber You Saw Is a Desert Bighorn Sheep
Desert bighorn sheep live wild in rugged parts of Arizona, including the Grand Canyon and the desert mountain ranges in the western half of the state. A sure-footed animal with horns standing on a steep canyon ledge is almost certainly a bighorn. Horns alone won’t settle it, because both sexes of bighorn sheep and of mountain goats grow them.2Crittering. Bighorn Sheep, or Mountain Goat?
Several things set the two apart:
- Coat: a mountain goat is white and shaggy, while a bighorn sheep has short brown hair.3Crittering. Bighorn Sheep, or Mountain Goat?
- Horns: a mountain goat’s horns are jet black and point up and back.4Crittering. Bighorn Sheep, or Mountain Goat?
- Curl: a bighorn’s horns curl down and around near the eye instead.5Crittering. Bighorn Sheep, or Mountain Goat?
- Rump: bighorns have a pale patch on the rear that stands out against the brown body.
The mix-up is easy to make. Female and young bighorns have short, nearly straight horns that look goat-like from a distance, and bighorns climb sheer rock just as boldly as goats do. Many visitors also use “goat” for any cliff-climbing horned animal, and a brown animal on red rock in harsh light is hard to judge.
Body shape helps too. A mountain goat has a humped, muscular shoulder and a beard, giving it a blocky, shaggy outline, while a bighorn looks sleeker and more deer-like. Deer and pronghorn also live in the state, but they carry antlers or forked horns and generally stay off steep rock, so a horned animal on a sheer ledge points to a bighorn.
Mature rams carry heavy horns that curl into a near-full circle, while ewes have shorter, slimmer horns that curve only slightly. Seeing one thick curled horn rules out a goat.
Bighorns often stand motionless on a ledge for long stretches, so a still brown shape is easy to overlook until it moves. They usually travel in small groups, so scan the nearby rock for ewes and lambs or a bachelor group of rams. If you take a photo, zoom in afterward and check the horn color and shape.
Use binoculars rather than approaching, since sheep may bolt onto dangerous ledges. Never feed them, because it changes their behavior and harms their health. On trails below cliffs, watch for loose rocks they knock down.
Arizona Once Had Its Own Mountain Goat
An extinct relative of today’s mountain goat, called Harrington’s mountain goat, once lived in the Grand Canyon.6PubMed Central. Extinction of Harrington’s mountain goat We know because the outer horn coverings of these goats survived in dry Grand Canyon caves, at or near the cave floor.7PubMed Central. Extinction of Harrington’s mountain goat Dry desert air preserved something as delicate as horn for thousands of years. The goats lived in the canyon for at least 19,000 years, but they had died out by about 11,160 radiocarbon years ago.8PubMed Central. Extinction of Harrington’s mountain goat In plain terms, the goats were gone by the end of the Ice Age, roughly eleven thousand years back.
It was a separate species, not the white goat now found up north, but a true mountain goat relative. Because it went extinct, no goat line connects ancient and modern Arizona.
The goat had company. Grand Canyon caves sheltered many animals, from packrats and bats to American cheetahs, horses, and Shasta ground sloths.9U.S. National Park Service. Case Study: Grand Canyon Evolution through the Ages – Fossils and Paleontology Several of those, including the ground sloth and a vampire bat, are now extinct like the goat.10U.S. National Park Service. Case Study: Grand Canyon Evolution through the Ages – Fossils and Paleontology
As a visitor, you won’t see the caves. They’re protected and closed to the public to keep the remains intact. Park rangers and museum displays at the Grand Canyon cover Ice Age animals, and removing bones or horn from a national park is illegal, so never collect any you find.
Where to See Mountain Goats In or Near Arizona
Bearizona Wildlife Park, near Williams on the way to the Grand Canyon, has Rocky Mountain goats in its drive-through area.11thecanyon.com. Bearizona Wildlife Park Visitors stay in their vehicles while passing herds of bison, goats, deer, wolves, and black bears.12thecanyon.com. Bearizona Wildlife Park It’s the only easy way to see a mountain goat without leaving the state. The animals are captive, so it’s a sure sighting rather than a wild encounter, and you get closer views than wild sightings allow.
Wild goats mean a trip to Utah. Mountain goats aren’t native to Utah either, and were first brought there in the 1960s.13High Country News. Add one to the introduced species list: mountain goats in the La Sal Mountains The state now has an estimated 2,000 mountain goats in its high mountains.14High Country News. Add one to the introduced species list: mountain goats in the La Sal Mountains In central Utah’s Tushar Mountains, the herd grew to roughly double its target of 125 animals.15High Country News. Add one to the introduced species list: mountain goats in the La Sal Mountains Utah also released 35 goats into the La Sal Mountains near Moab in southeastern Utah.16Grand Canyon Trust. Mountain Goat Native Range Map The La Sals and Tushars are the closest places a road-tripper from Arizona might see wild goats. Either one means a separate multi-hour drive from the Grand Canyon region, so plan it as a destination.
Goats keep to high, rocky ground above the trees, so expect a mountain drive or hike. Summer and early fall are when high roads and trails are usually open, and snow lingers up high, so check conditions locally before going. Wild goats aren’t guaranteed, and they often stand on steep cliffs far from trails, so even a good sighting is usually at long range. They often appear as white dots, so bring binoculars or a spotting scope to turn a speck into a view of the shaggy coat and black horns.
Why Arizona Doesn’t Bring In Mountain Goats
Mountain goats live in alpine tundra, the treeless zone above timberline. Arizona has very little of it, mainly on the highest summits of the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff. The biggest threat to that habitat is climate change, which could eliminate Arizona’s alpine tundra entirely.17Arizona Game and Fish Department. Petran Subalpine Conifer Forests and Alpine Tundra There is little suitable high ground to offer a goat herd, and less in the future.
Goats are built for cold, snowy heights, not hot desert canyons. Bighorns are the animal adapted to Arizona’s heat and dry cliffs.
The plants up high are tough in some ways. They survive constant wind, freezing winters, little water, intense sun, and drought.18Grand Canyon Trust. Impacts of Non-Native Mountain Goats in Introduction Areas of the West: A Review of the Literature But many evolved with little or no grazing by hoofed animals.19Grand Canyon Trust. Impacts of Non-Native Mountain Goats in Introduction Areas of the West: A Review of the Literature Short growing seasons and shallow soils make these areas especially easy to damage.20Grand Canyon Trust. Impacts of Non-Native Mountain Goats in Introduction Areas of the West: A Review of the Literature Adding a large grazing animal there is expected to cause noticeable harm, even where bighorns already live.21Grand Canyon Trust. Impacts of Non-Native Mountain Goats in Introduction Areas of the West: A Review of the Literature
Growth is slow, so damage takes a long time to recover from. Many tundra plants are low, tight cushions or mats that cope with wind but are easily torn up by hooves. Because Arizona’s tundra covers only a small area, losing even part of it could threaten plants found nowhere else.
Goats also tend to win against bighorns. In high mountains from Colorado to Alberta, mountain goats won more than 98% of face-offs with bighorn sheep.22SOURCE. Mountain goats and bighorn sheep battle in climate crisis, new study shows Where the two share ground, goats can push bighorns away from favored spots. Competition is often about who gets the best feeding or resting spots rather than direct fighting. A sheep pushed onto poorer ground may suffer in health over time. Arizona already works to protect its native bighorns, so protecting them is another reason against adding goats.
Utah’s introductions remain debated. Supporters value goats for hunting and wildlife viewing, while critics worry about rare plants in places like the La Sals.
Best Places to Spot Bighorn Sheep in Arizona
The Grand Canyon is one of the most visited places to see bighorn sheep in Arizona. Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in southwest Arizona was set aside largely to protect desert bighorns. Bighorns are also often spotted on cliffs above the Colorado River and the Lake Mead area.
Bighorns favor steep, broken terrain with open views, which lets them spot predators and escape onto rock. Water sources in dry country draw sheep, so canyon rims and river corridors are good places to look, and in hot months, look near water. Rafting or boating on the Colorado River gives a different angle on cliffs where sheep stand above the water.
Scan ledges and loose rocky slopes slowly with binoculars. Their brown coats blend with rock, so watch for movement or the pale rump. Rangers and refuge staff can tell you about recent sightings. Settle in one spot and scan again after several minutes, because sheep may step into sight from out of view.
Cooler months make hiking and viewing more comfortable in desert ranges. Fall is rutting season, when rams may clash horns. Midday heat sends sheep into shade, so dawn and dusk are best.
Keep a wide distance, especially from ewes with lambs in spring. Keep dogs leashed or at home in sheep areas. Report injured or sick sheep to the Arizona Game and Fish Department.