Love on the Mountain Tops

Caprines - members of the goat subfamily - are amongst the mammals most adapted to harsh environments, with the majority of species adapted to living in the cold, barren, and precipitous slopes of mountains. There are some exceptions; sheep (which are taxonomically a subtype of "goat") originally evolved to live in barren rocky hills rather than on true mountains, while some of the East Asian species inhabit forested slopes. 

There are, as with many animal groups, more species of caprine than one might at first think, and I covered them all individually about ten years ago. Looking through that series, it should be possible to appreciate that the group is also varied, not only inhabiting a range of environments but also living varied lifestyles, from those that are near-solitary to those that prefer large herds. This is also reflected in their mating habits which, are as one might expect, related to the size of the community in which they live. One would also expect that the habitat would have some effect on how the animals choose to live, and, in turn, on that mating behaviour.

Life Lessons from Monogamous Mice

As a general rule, male mammals don't have much to do with raising their young. In many cases, that's because the species in question prefers the solitary life, and the two sexes only meet up to mate before parting ways again. In more social species, males and females may still live in different herds for most of the year, often because they have different feeding requirements and want to avoid competition. Even where are there mixed-sex groups, the males often spend more of their time fighting off rivals than they do actually looking after the young they sire - although, in this instance, they may be helping indirectly by protecting the herd from predators or the like.

But there are plenty of exceptions.