This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (KDVR) — A recent study from Colorado State University shows mountain goats and bighorn sheep are duking it out.

The research comes from CSU, the Wildlife Conservation Society and the National Park Service.

According to the study, these mountain mammals are battling over minerals that are disappearing because of global warming.

“While humans continue to be justifiably concerned about the climate-induced havoc we’re wreaking planet-wide, much has remained unknown about species aggression among our mammalian brethren,” said Joel Berger, the lead author and senior scientist for WCS and Barbara Cox-Anthony Chair of Wildlife Conservation at CSU.

The study found that mountain goats almost always win the battles between these species, coming out on top 98% of the time. The problem is, mountain goats aren’t native to Colorado and their aggressiveness towards bighorn sheep could have a lasting effect on the native bighorn.

The two species are having to compete for the minerals due to road construction and human creation of artificial water sources.

“If we can’t offer species other than ourselves a chance, we’re just cooking our fates along similarly destructive paths,” Berger said.

In addition to the goats and sheep of the Rocky Mountains, the study also analyzed similar resource battles in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia and Etosha National Park in Namibia.