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I'm trying to recall a short story I read some time ago.
It was the life of a large alien animal. It began with the narrator, runt of the litter, and their mother. The alien is driven away by the mother, becomes a predator, eventually a parent if I recall correctly, and then climbs a mountain to meet an elder of its kind. If I recall correctly, it may have died there.
This is hazy, but I feel like the color red may have been important.
This is probably Love Is the Plan, the Plan Is Death by James Tiptree, jr. (aka Alice Sheldon).
Told from the viewpoint of Moggadeet, a spider-like alien, starting from when he grows up with his mother. He tries to use his intelligence to escape the vicious cycle in which the winters on this world, which slowly get longer, diminish the intelligence of the aliens during the cold period. However, when he finds his mate and tries to protect her (holing up in the mountains to ward of the cold), he gets caught up in the sexual reproduction cycle, which ultimately leads to his death.
The color of the pelt (black and red) is important, because it triggers behaviours.
It's available online in lightspeedmagazine.
