A Beast the Color of Winter: The Mountain Goat Observed [Paperback]

Douglas H. Chadwick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2002

"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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"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.

About the Author

Douglas H. Chadwick is a field biologist and the author of several books, including The Fate of the Elephant and Yellowstone to Yukon.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books; Bison Books Ed edition (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803264216
• ISBN-13: 978-0803264212
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #255,361 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book transcends its genre and you want to read it., August 5, 2008

By 

Arthur Digbee (Indianapolis, IN, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Beast the Color of Winter: The Mountain Goat Observed (Paperback)

In this book, an expert on mountain goats tells you all about mountain goats. With some old black-and-white pictures.

Doesn't sound very exciting, does it? Well, Douglas Chadwick has blown the genre apart. The book includes his personal story of becoming and being a mountain goat biologist, and the joys of wandering around Montana's high country in winter. He tells us about mountain goats and how they live in their challenging habitat. He teaches us about how to identify male and female goats of various ages, mostly in terms of how he figured it out himself. We get to observe goat sex but, again, we learn it through his eyes. (Chadwick also tells us why it matters - - it's really easy for hunters to disrupt goat reproduction.)

Chadwick also sets the stage more fully, discussing the other animals that live in goat country and how their habitats and lifestyles differ from goats. He discusses goat evolution and how the steep cliffs of goat country shape their body shape, behavior, and evolution. He criticizes state game management agencies for assuming (wrongly) that mountain goats behave like other large, hoofed animals and can therefore be hunted at the same rates, in a similarly regulated system.

Last, but certainly not least, he makes an impassioned case for preserving the species and the high country that he loves.

It's highly readable, and if you're looking at this review, you should read it. Then give it to a friend.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the Best, December 8, 2005

By 

Keith Kincade (Fernie, BC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Beast the Color of Winter: The Mountain Goat Observed (Paperback)

This is one of the best books I have ever read. Douglas Chadwick is a brillaint and sensitive observer of all natural things and has a keen insight into human nature as well. Nothing you can read will ever teach you as much about Mountain Goats as this wonderful book. I have hunted Moutain Goats and will continue to do so. Regardless of Chadwick's feelings about hunting, I admire him greatly and highly recommend this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Authoritative Foundation for Mountain Goat Studies, September 19, 2005

By 

Timothy Christensen - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Beast the Color of Winter: The Mountain Goat Observed (Paperback)

Chadwick presents here the most thorough and enjoyable encyclopedia of everything Oreamanos Americanus (Mountain Goat). It takes me back to my own days roaming the high country of the Bob Marshall on long weekends, seeing early spring heards back of Gibson Reserviour playing and every munching on sedge in the snow.

A thoroughly enjoyable read for any high country affecianodo.

tim