Goat
The domestic goat (Capra hircus) is a species of goat-antelope kept as livestock, domesticated from the wild goat around 10,000 years ago in Iran.
The goat or domestic goat (Capra hircus) is a species of goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (C. aegagrus) of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the family Bovidae and is closely related to the sheep. It was one of the first animals to be domesticated, in Iran around 10,000 years ago.
- Scientific Name
- Capra aegagrus hircus
- Family
- Bovidae
- Primary Diet
- Browser (Herbivore)
- Social Structure
- Herd-dwelling with complex hierarchies
- Native Range
- Middle East and Southwest Asia (domesticated globally)
Lore & Background
Goats feature in mythology, folklore, and religion in many parts of the world, including in the Greek myth of Amalthea, in the goats that pulled the chariot of the Norse god Thor, in the Scandinavian Yule goat, in Hinduism's goat-headed Daksha, in the Israelite ritual of the scapegoat, and in Christianity as a common depiction of Satan, among others.
In Their Own Story
The morning mist clung to the limestone ridges of the Aegean archipelago, turning the jagged peaks into ghostly silhouettes. A small herd of feral goats moved with fluid precision across a slope that seemed too vertical to hold soil, let alone life. Their hooves, hard and split like cloven diamonds, found invisible purchase on smooth rock faces where a human would dare not step. One billy goat paused, his beard twitching as he sniffed the air, detecting the faint scent of sagebrush hidden beneath the dew. With a low, guttural bleat that echoed off the canyon walls, he signaled the others to follow. They descended in a single file line, a living river of brown and white fur flowing against gravity, disappearing into the shadowed crevice where the sun would not reach until noon.
Reader's Guide
Goats have been used for milk, meat, wool, and skins across much of the world. Milk from goats is often turned into cheese. Goats are ruminants with a four-chambered stomach. They are agile and able to climb and balance in precarious places, making them the only ruminant to regularly climb trees. Goats are naturally curious and as intelligent as dogs by some studies. When handled as a group, they display less herding behavior than sheep. Gestation length is approximately 150 days, and twins are the usual result.
Did You Know?
- In 2022, there were more than 1.1 billion goats living in the world, of which 150 million were in India.
- Juvenile goats are called kids, a term derived from a Scandinavian language.
- Goats have horizontal, slit-shaped pupils, allowing them to see well in both well-lit and dark conditions.
- Goats have no tear ducts.
Elsewhere in the Living Planet universe
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