These Goats are Shrinking Due to Climate Change: Temperatures Impact Animal Size

Could climate be causing goats to shrink? Scientists have taken a look at alpine goats and have found that they're becoming smaller as they react to shifts in climate.

In recent years, scientists have noticed decreases in body size in a variety of animal species. This decrease has often been linked to the changing climate. That's why the researchers took a closer look at Alpine Chamois, a species of mountain goat, to see whether a decrease in body size could also be linked to climate.

"Body size declines attributed to climate change are widespread in the animal kingdom, with many fish, bird and mammal species getting smaller," said Tom Mason, one of the researchers, in a news release. "However the decreases we observe here are astonishing. The impacts on Chamois weight could pose real problems for the survival of these populations."

In order to better understand this decline, the researchers delved into long-term records of Chamois body weights provided by hunters in the Italian Alps. Then, they compared this information against climate data. They found that declines in body weight were strongly linked to the warming climate in the study region, which began three to four degrees Celsius warmer over 30 years of study.

"We know that Chamois cope with hot periods by resting more and spending less time searching for food, and this may be restricting their size more than the quality of the vegetation they eat," said Stephen Willis, co-author of the new study. "If climate change results in similar behavioral and body mass changes in domestic livestock, this could have impacts on agricultural productivity in coming decades."

The findings reveal a bit more about how climate can impact animal body size. This, in turn, highlights the importance of continuing studies on how climate change affects various species. In fact, changes in body size could act as early-warning systems for worse impacts to come, such as population collapse.

The findings are published in the journal Frontiers in Zoology.