Ledgehorn
Ukhaalstaag cliff grazer
The Ledgehorn is a sure-footed cliff grazer of Ukhaalstaag and one of the few large animals that live there year round. It feeds on lichen and frozen moss on cliff faces most animals cannot reach, and a thick double coat carries it through temperatures as low as sixty degrees below zero.
It is compact and heavy in the shoulder, with split hooves backed by soft pads that grip ice and bare rock. Both sexes carry curled horns, which males use in contests along the ridgelines.
It lives in groups of five to twelve, sheltering on ledges and in cracks in the rock when blizzards come through, and it can stand motionless on a hold the width of a hand for hours.
It is the main prey of the Ukhaal Walkers, which take it the same way they take people, by dislodging the ledge beneath it and collecting what falls. Fresh Ledgehorn carcasses at the foot of a cliff are among the surest signs that Walkers hold the ground above, and research crews on Ukhaalstaag treat them as a warning to turn back.
