Climate crisis leads to animals sparring over salt

A mountain goat skipping over rocks. Mountain goats and bighorn sheep are competing for control of salt patches in Glacier National Park, in Montana, the United States. Photo: AFP

The climate crisis is having some unexpected consequences, especially in the area of biodiversity. One such example can be witnessed in Glacier National Park, in the US state of Montana. There, mountain goats and Canadian bighorn sheep are engaged in a merciless war for squares of salt.

Joel Berger and Forest P. Hayes, two researchers from Colorado State University, observed this strange struggle between species in 2019 during a trip to Glacier National Park. There, they saw goats and bighorn sheep spar for several hours over a small patch of freshly melted salt.