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Learning
from Mountain Goats
.
.
God
purposefully designed high-elevation mountain goats for balance, because living
life among high alpine rocks is a high-risk lifestyle - mountain goats provide
sure-footed creation science exhibits of how much we need God’s wisdom and His
providential blessings to safely journey through each day’s rocky challenges
BY
JAMES J. S. JOHNSON, J.D., TH.D.
When America’s president must make decisions
about how to transition from a shut-in citizenry (and shut-down economy) to
post-isolationist advances toward resuming business-as-usual activities, it is
time to learn a lesson about balance.
And balance it what we see in the athletic
agility of mountain goats, adroitly ambulating alpine ascents of the Rocky
Mountains.
Indeed, mountain goats provide creation
science gems, plus a picture of how we need balance in the political arena,
when healthcare concerns (including panicking citizens) must be balanced
against the need to restore America’s economy and other vital aspects of normal
daily living.
Why are mountain goats a picture of this
problem? Because safely balancing a mountain goat’s body on steep alpine slopes
and safely balancing the most vital needs of a nation’s people are high-risk situations,
facing opposing forces and potential disasters.
To appreciate this comparison, mountain goats
must be appreciated within their real-world habitats, just as the U.S.
president (and other government officials) must make decisions that match
real-world realities (not just speculative models).
Context matters!
Also, both situations — high-altitude
mountain goats and high-stakes governmental decision-making — indispensably
need God’s providential blessing, in all the many details, or else disaster
awaits.
In other words, mountain goats provide
sure-footed creation science exhibits of how much we need God’s wisdom and His
providential blessings to safely journey through each day’s rocky challenges.
Consider, first, the agility of a mountain
goat (Oreamnos americanus), the sure-hoofed bovid that habituates the
heights of North America’s Rocky Mountains and Cascade Range.
“For those of us who
admit to some fear of heights, the Mountain Goat is an animal to be admired …
This shaggy animal, its back hunched in a manner somewhat suggestive of a
Bison, is a master at negotiating the steepest of precipices.
“Mountain Goats are
truly alpine creatures. They commonly rest on high-elevation snowfields and
find most of their food among the plants of alpine meadows.
“Their hooves are
structured to [optimize] balance and grip; the outer hoof is strongly
reinforced and the bottom is lined with rubbery material, making the whole
structure rather like a good hiking boot. These animals nonchalantly cross
dizzying ledges, sometimes even at a trot.”
In fact, the high-altitude dexterity of the
mountain goat is so phenomenal that it routinely spends most of its time on
precipitous terrain steeper than a 40° angle, and sometimes at pitches steeper
than 60°, especially during winter.
Furthermore, the leg bones of the mountain
goat are engineered to maximize a functional mix of several factors: precision
balancing (such as perching all four hooves on a small spot), front-forward
pulling power, propulsion leverage and maneuverability (for running and
jumping), and stability (due to a low center of gravity) against tipping over.
“A mountain goat
climbs with three-point suspension. … Lifting one limb at a time [it]
frequently pauses to assess the situation, tests the footing, and if needed
turns back and selects a different route.
“Slow, sure
consistency allows life on rock steeper than the angle of repose. Because they
are most likely the ones to find themselves in a tight spot, kids do most of
the go-for-broke climbing.
“Although a kid might
take four or five missteps per year, it salvages the situation almost every
time.”
Thus, the mountain goats are aptly designed
for moving on rocky slopes.
Mountain goats are instinctively careful, and
they apply their characteristic agility as they test their environment.
Indeed, when predatory cougars try to attack
them, the God-given instinct of mountain goats to flee — often successfully — is
implemented by their agility and speed in and up these jagged rocky slopes and
precipices!
But without the right physical traits for
maintaining balance on rugged rocks mountain goats could not thrive, as they
do, upon the harsh talus slopes and felsenmeer of their high-elevation habitat.
“The [mountain goat
hoof-print] track’s squarish imprint is created by the hoof’s spreading tips.
The sides of the toes consist of hard keratin, like that of a horse hoof.
“Each foot’s two
wraparound toenails are used to catch and hold on to cracks and tiny knobs. …
The front edge of the hoof tapers to a point, which digs into dirt or packed
snow when [it] is going uphill. In contrast to a horse’s concave hoof, which
causes the animal to walk on the rim of its toenail, a [mountain] goat’s hoof
has a flexible central pad that protrudes beyond the nail.
“The pad’s rough
texture provides [skid-resistant] friction on smooth rock or ice yet is pliant
enough to impress itself into irregularities on a stone. Four hooves x 2 toes
per hoof = 8 gripping soles per animal.
“As [mountain] goats
descend a slope the toes spread widely, adjusting tension to fine-tune the
grip. … This feature makes them more likely to catch onto something. It also
divides the downward force of the weight on the hoof so that some of the
animal’s total weight is directed sideways.
“Because there is
less net force on each downward [pressure] line, the foot is less likely to
slide. Think of it as the fanning out of downward forces over numerous points
of friction.”
In a word, balance.
Carefulness is indispensable in the
interactive details of every movement.
Yet the same is equally true to balancing the
healthcare concerns and economic necessities of everyone within American
society.
Legitimate needs of both business opportunity
“freedoms” and societal “security” are deliberately balanced with the God-given
personal liberty rights of individuals.
Like a mountain goat perched atop a
precarious precipice, safeguarding those God-given rights and freedoms is no
lackadaisical endeavor.
The securing of those fundamental freedoms
was not (and is not) easily obtained, nor is it easy to maintain those freedoms
amidst the ubiquitously power-greedy politics of both the business community
and governmental enterprises.
May God give enormous and timely wisdom to
governmental, business, and other organizational decision-makers and
providential prudence in exercising their respective powers as families and
individuals try to responsibly make the best of our real-world predicaments.
*Dr. Johnson is Associate Professor of Apologetics
and Chief Academic Officer at the Institute for Creation Research.
The
Institute for Creation Research (ICR) wants people to know that God’s Word can be
trusted in everything it speaks about—from how and why we were made, to how the
universe was formed, to how we can know God and receive all He has planned for
us.
After
50 years of ministry, ICR remains a leader in scientific research within the
context of biblical creation. Founded by Dr. Henry Morris in 1970, ICR exists
to conduct scientific research within the realms of origins and Earth history,
and then to educate the public both formally and informally through
professional training programs, through conferences and seminars around the
country, and through books, magazines, and media presentations.
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