The Journal of Wildlife Management

Have Helicopters Changed Mountain Goat Behavior?

Between perilous drops and unstable rocks, you would think mountain goats have enough to worry about, but new research in the Journal of Wildlife Managementreveals that Canadian goats change their behavior to avoid helicopter traffic.

The authors sought to test the theory that mountain goats would become accustomed to helicopters over the course of a year by studying the behavior of a goat population in British Columbia which has been exposed to helicopter traffic for over 40 years.

Mountain goats are a good species to test for habituation to human activity because they are sensitive to disturbance and their reaction to helicopter flights can be easily monitored in alpine environments.

The results showed that distance was the main factor determining mountain goat responses to helicopter flights. Goats were very likely to be moderately to strongly disturbed when they were approached within 500m by helicopters. This included fleeing from the noise and being on increased alertness.

The authors found that mountain goats only very slightly habituated to helicopter flights during a period of 10–15 years of repeated helicopter traffic; therefore they recommend flights do not approach closer than 1,500m from mountain goat groups.