Goats were among the very first farm animals, domesticated about 10,000 years ago from wild goats in the Zagros Mountains of Iran. In the US they are kept for milk, meat, fiber, and brush clearing; popular dairy breeds include Nubian, LaMancha, Alpine, Saanen, and Nigerian Dwarf.
Appearance
- Appearance
- Most have two horns, and both sexes may have beards. The tail is usually held up. Pupils are horizontal slits. Size varies hugely by breed, from African Pygmies about 16–23 in (41–58 cm) at the shoulder to Boer bucks over 310 lb (140 kg).
Look-alikes
Domestic sheepOvis aries
Goats carry their tails up and often have beards; sheep tails hang down, and sheep have a split upper lip.
Why they get mixed upHair sheep breeds lack wool and can look a lot like goats.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Farms
- Pastures and brushland
- Range
- Kept worldwide; there were more than 1.18 billion goats in 2024.
- Preferred conditions
- Tough and adaptable, handling dry, rough country. Goats are nimble climbers and famous escape artists.
Behavior
- Diet
- rather than grazers: they prefer leaves, twigs, and shrubs, and will nibble and taste almost anything that resembles plant matter. This appetite makes them useful for clearing brush and invasive plants.
Life cycle
- Gestation
- About 150 days
- Litter size
- Twins are most common; up to six kids at once has been recorded.
- Time to maturity
- 3–15 months, depending on breed and feeding
- Lifespan
- Typically 10–15 years; some live longer.
Growing it
- Care
- Raised for milk, meat, and fiber. LaMancha is a dairy breed developed in the US.
Name and classification
- About the name
- Some sources treat the domestic goat as a subspecies of the wild goat and write it Capra aegagrus hircus. The kri-kri of Crete (C. h. cretica) was once thought to be a wild goat subspecies, but genetic studies show it descends from early domestic goats that went wild on the island, so it is placed under the domestic goat.
- Varieties and forms
- Breeds range from dairy goats (Saanen, Nubian) to meat goats (Boer) and fiber goats (Angora for mohair, cashmere goats).
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
- Status
- goats can devastate native island plants. On California's San Clemente Island, the US Navy removed them, finishing in 1991, to protect endangered plants and animals.
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- The word scapegoat comes from an ancient Jewish ritual in which a goat symbolically carried away the people's sins.
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