Part of a series of articles titled Grand Canyon Collections—Paleontology.
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Harrington’s Mountain Goat
Terrestrial Fossil
Scientific Name: Oreamnos harringtoni
Harrington’s mountain goat was a smaller, shorter-haired relative of the modern mountain goat. It inhabited mountainous regions of the Southwestern United States and became extinct at the end of the last Ice Age. Pieces of its dung have been found preserved in caves in the Grand Canyon, and plant material in in the dung was used to study its diet. Analysis revealed that grasses were a major food source for the Harrington’s mountain goat, along with Limber pine, Douglas fir, and bark. As the climate of the Southwest grew drier, its preferred food sources became scarce. It is thought the changing climate at the end of the Ice Age coupled with human hunting drove this animal to extinction.
3D Harrington's Goat—Oreamnos harringtoni
Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
A 3D model. This model shows a fossil mountain goat skull. The model can be rotated and tilted using a computer interface.
Harrington’s Goat (Oreamnos harringtoni) is an extinct species of caprine that was found in the Southwestern part of North America during the last ice age. Osteologically, the Harrington was smaller (by a 1/3) than the living mountain goat, O. americanus, to which it is related, but with relatively robust feet, a proportionally long but narrow skull, and smaller horns. Apparently it was also less “beardy” than the living North American goat based on finds of hair.
This fossil skull is in the collections at Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Learn about paleontology in the National Park Service: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fossils/index.htm
Learn more about Grand Canyon National Park’s Centennial: https://www.nps.gov/grca/getinvolved/centennial.htm
Last updated: May 3, 2021