The mountain goat (''Oreamnos americanus''), also known as the Rocky Mountain goat, is a hoofed mammal

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to mountainous areas of western North America. A subalpine to alpine species, it is a

sure-footed Sure-footedness is the ability, especially when hiking or mountain climbing, to negotiate difficult or rough terrain safely. Such situations place demands on a person's coordination and reserves of strength as well as requiring sufficient appreciat ...

climber commonly seen on cliffs and ice. Despite its vernacular name and both genera being in the same subfamily (

Caprinae The subfamily Caprinae, also sometimes referred to as the tribe Caprini, is part of the ruminant family Bovidae, and consists of mostly medium-sized bovids. A member of this subfamily is called a caprine, or, more informally, a goat-antelope ( ...

), the mountain goat is not a member of '' Capra'', the genus that includes all other

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of ...

s, such as the wild goat (''Capra aegagrus''), from which the domestic goat is derived. Instead, it is more closely allied with the takins (''Budorcas'') and

chamois The chamois (''Rupicapra rupicapra'') or Alpine chamois is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope native to mountains in Europe, from west to east, including the Alps, the Dinarides, the Tatra Mountains, Tatra and the Carpathian Mountains, the ...

(''Rupicapra'').

Classification and evolution

The mountain goat is an even-toed

ungulate Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Ungulata which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. These include odd-toed ungulates such as horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraff ...

of the order

Artiodactyla The even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla , ) are ungulates—hoofed animals—which bear weight equally on two (an even number) of their five toes: the third and fourth. The other three toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or pointing poste ...

and the family

Bovidae The Bovidae comprise the biological family of cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammals that includes cattle, bison, buffalo, antelopes, and caprines. A member of this family is called a bovid. With 143 extant species and 300 known extinct species ...

(along with

antelope The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant that are indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelope comprise a wastebasket taxon defined as any of numerous Old World grazing and browsing hoofed mamm ...

gazelle A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . This article also deals with the seven species included in two further genera, ''Eudorcas'' and '' Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third ...

s, and

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...

). It belongs to the subfamily

, along with true goats, wild sheep, the

, the

muskox The muskox (''Ovibos moschatus'', in Latin "musky sheep-ox"), also spelled musk ox and musk-ox, plural muskoxen or musk oxen (in iu, ᐅᒥᖕᒪᒃ, umingmak; in Woods Cree: ), is a hoofed mammal of the family Bovidae. Native to the Arctic, ...

and other species. The takins of the

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

n region, while not a

sister lineage In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A a ...

of the mountain goat, are nonetheless very closely related and almost

coeval {{Short pages monitor