Have you ever heard of a tree goat?

[Playinghardball]

Found in Morocco, they climb these Argan tree in search of food. It's hard to imagine that animals with hooves could be so adept at climbing but these images are 100% real. Food is fairly sparse in this area, so they have to grab it when they can - even if it's high up in a tree!
The secret to their ability to climb lies in the shape of their hooves. The keratin reinforced hoof wall adds strength, while the soft textured sole provides traction and grip. It's also capable of deforming inwards to counter irregularities in the terrain. Their toes are capable of operating independently giving them more of a "grip".

These hooves evolved to allow the goats to climb rocky, mountainous areas - but they've shifted ecosystems to the trees!

Check out more photographs here: http://yhoo.it/16virRi

[zappaman]

1. No, but can you spare a moment to help out our 8 legged friend?

The Pacific Northwest tree octopus (Octopus paxarbolis) can be found in the temperate rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula on the west coast of North America. Their habitat lies on the Eastern side of the Olympic mountain range, adjacent to Hood Canal. These solitary cephalopods reach an average size (measured from arm-tip to mantle-tip,) of 30-33 cm. Unlike most other cephalopods, tree octopuses are amphibious, spending only their early life and the period of their mating season in their ancestral aquatic environment. Because of the moistness of the rainforests and specialized skin adaptations, they are able to keep from becoming desiccated for prolonged periods of time, but given the chance they would prefer resting in pooled water.


http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

[pinboy3niner]

8. Goes best with pine butter

[BlancheSplanchnik]

25. my mind has just been blown!!

KaBAM!!!!

I had NOOOO idea!!! WOW!! That is tooooooo frikken amaxing and cool!!!!!!!!

[Scootaloo]

28. It's endangered, however

Back in 1983, a shipment of kiwi fruit docked at Seattle, and a small colony of drop bears from Australia had stowed away. As it turns out, they find the tree octopus delicious, and like any invasive species, have been doing a large amount of damage to the native species.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

35. :(

God....everything is endangered.... such pure beauty and wonder.....I don't know how many more reports of extinctions I can take.

Without the natural world, not only can we not survive...I wouldn't want to.

[BrotherIvan]

40. you're bad

[xchrom]

2. I have some trees I dearly wish they would

Climb and chew on.

Besides I WANT A TREE GOAT!11

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Not until now!!!

Thanks

[Cleita]

4. I see goats all the time where I live and they seem to like to climb up on things.

I've never seen one in a tree but often on the roofs of structures, truck roofs and other farm equipment. Makes me wonder how they get up on them. Could they use a tree or shrub as a ladder?

[Link Speed]

51. My neighbor has goats that climb his olive trees

All eight of them have laid claim to their own particular tree. In hot weather, it is not unusual to see all of them in the trees.

[Cleita]

52. Fascinating! n/t

[hunter]

5. I've heard of dam goats...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1320804/Mountain-goats-climb-160ft-near-vertical-Cingino-dam.html

[adirondacker]

7. I've seen them in the Grand Canyon, but that's insane!

I thought it was a photoshop!

[IDemo]

6. See: Coconut crabs

[zappaman]

9. Saw a bunch of those in Palau

Very freaky...

[IDemo]

11. I don't think I'd want to try to wrestle a coconut away from one

The locals in some photos seem quite comfortable handling them.

[alfredo]

19. But do they taste good?

[NYC_SKP]

10. I want one. Not a tree goat. I want a goat tree, filled with tree goats.

Any of these will do!

[pinboy3niner]

13. I want to see an artist do that in brass

I once had a brass tree with hanging brass leaves that was done by an artist in Monterey or Carmel, CA. I'd like to see one like that with goats.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

26. they're adorable!

Just don't spread your picnic blanket underneath!

[donco]

31. the one on

bottom looks like he only has three legs.

[NYC_SKP]

32. Oh!

Poor critter!

[brewens]

12. No too surprising considering the fossil record shows many varieties of hooved mammals including

large predators.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

14. I blame Harold...

[A HERETIC I AM]

29. "The most dangerous of all animals"

"A clever sheep"

Harold has realized that a sheeps life consists of little more than walking around for a few months and then bein eaten. And that's a depressin prospect for an ambitious sheep!


I'll never forget the first time I saw that episode back in the 70's on PBS in Miami.

Just too fucking funny

[Art_from_Ark]

37. Some of them become killer sheep

[pinboy3niner]

15. Not the favorite crop of produce-pickers

They're heavy, and the smell--pee U!

[BlueJazz]

16. The goats climb the trees and catch the crabs ?

[pinboy3niner]

20. They can get that from the shepherds with no climbing required

[BlueJazz]

23. Oh..and the shepherds and the goats would be happy....fair enough.

[Baitball Blogger]

17. Goatnado.

You heard it here first.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

27. haaaaaaa!

[pinboy3niner]

33. Coming soon to SyFy!

[Triana]

18. Yes, I have.

Remarkable aren't they?

[TeeYiYi]

21. I always thought shoe trees were interesting...

...but those goat trees full of tree goats are awesome. They look like ornaments. Salvatore Dali surreal.


Swans Reflecting Elephants by Salvador Dali


Burning Giraffes in Brown by Salvador Dali

TYY

[scarletwoman]

22. So, what's the punch line?

[BlueJazz]

30. This is all I've got

[adirondacker]

41. Shirley, you kid!

[Liberal_in_LA]

24. they climb and stand proudly up there. even cats dont do that

[gopiscrap]

34. cool

[2naSalit]

36. Those tree goats are pretty unusual!

I've seen goats on top of a shed but not in a tree.

The hoof adaptation is the same sort of evolutionary thing - I guess - that has taken place with the "mountain goats" who are quite nimble on steep-sided outcroppings. We have them around here and they are amazing to watch, and very beautiful and magical looking... hard to get a good picture without a lens like a bazooka.

Special adaptations enable Mountain Goats to navigate rock faces. They have powerful forelimbs that help them climb or brake, and hooves that can spread to brake or squeeze like pincers to grasp irregularly shaped rock. They also have textured foot pads that give them extra traction

http://eol.org/pages/328659/details

http://www.google.com/imgres?start=306&client=firefox-a&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-US fficial&biw=1366&bih=662&tbm=isch&tbnid=eZ_Lz1ft0t42YM:&imgrefurl=http://theboattrain.blogspot.com/&docid=F5Fo3RNzcdEc7M&imgurl=&w=690&h=921&ei=9IN4UouCHsru2AWn84HIBQ&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:22,s:300,i 0&iact=rc&page=14&tbnh=190&tbnw=139&ndsp=26&tx=66&ty=89

[Motown_Johnny]

44. I've seen mountain goats on stuff that seems unbelievable.

It wouldn't surprise me if they had cousins that figured out how to jump up from one tree limb to another.

[Duppers]

45. take a look at THESE...

http://imgur.com/a/yyUXP

[2naSalit]

48. Awesome shots!

there is landscape very much like that around here and I have seen the mountain goats and the bighorn sheep, there are flocks of both in one location near-by where they both seem to exist. But we have both in a large portion of this area. I have not seen domestic goats climbing like that before but I never doubted they could, just never thought about them doing that.

Nice pictures, though. Which reminds me, when the roads are passable again, hopefully in a couple days, I should go out to the canyon and see if they are anywhere near enough to see them or even get a picture.

[ReRe]

38. Those trees must be made of steel....

... that's all I can say. How can those tree limbs support the weight of those animals??? I don't believe my eyes!

[KittyWampus]

39. I can't believe no one has posted the goats screaming like humans...

You HAVE To watch it to the end.

[BlueJazz]

42. Damn!!...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!

Scare the shit out of somebody.

Wouldn't it be marvelous fun to take a bunch of them down to the Mall ??

"Sir you're not allowed to bring those goa.... AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!

[Kingofalldems]

47. And then there's the Jerry Lewis goat--

[pinboy3niner]

49. That's hilarious

Jerry Lewis goat!!!

[oneshooter]

43. I have some angora Goats that will climb a tree.

Looking for leaves and such. I keep the oak trees around my pasture trimmed up to eight feet to keep them on the ground.

[MissMillie]

46. great

I thought all we had to worry about while standing under a tree was the birds.

[Silent3]

50. When the bees are gone, we'll depend on these to pollinate our crops.

I don't recommend the honey.