Interesting facts about goats you probably didn’t know
Baby goats are as cute as puppies, making you want to pick them up and cuddle them. Some studies even suggest that goats have personalities similar to dogs.
Goats of all ages have expressive faces, unusual eyes, and interesting facial hair. Domesticated around 10,000 years ago, today, there are more than 200 breeds of domestic goats worldwide.
They come in various colors and sizes and can be found munching on grass or even tree bark.
What else do we know about these charming creatures? Here are some interesting goat facts:
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They’re More Like Dogs Than We Thought
Research published in Biology Letters reveals that goats will look people in the eye when they are frustrated or need help.
In the study, researchers trained goats to remove a lid from a box to receive a reward. When the task was made more difficult, the goats gazed at the experimenters in the room, almost as if asking for assistance.
Goats stared longer at people facing them than those who were turned away.
They Have Beards and Wattles
Male and female goats can both have tufts of hair under their chin, known as beards, and wattles—hair-covered fleshy appendages around the throat or sometimes the face or ears.
Wattles serve no functional purpose and aren’t harmful to the goat, though they can get caught on fences or be chewed by other goats.
To prevent these injuries, some owners may opt to remove their goats’ wattles.
They Love a Smile
Goats prefer happy faces. A study published in Royal Society Open Science showed that goats in a sanctuary approached pictures of happy faces more often than those of angry faces, exploring the happy ones with their snouts.
Researchers already knew that goats are highly aware of human body language, but this study shows they also prefer positive facial expressions.
Goats Are Great at Diets
Despite the common misconception, goats are not indiscriminate eaters. While they’re known to be resourceful, finding nutritious options like tree bark, they are actually quite picky.
Goats thrive in various environments, from thin patches of grass to diverse landscapes, though they avoid extreme climates like tundras, deserts, and aquatic habitats.
Some feral goat groups can even be found on islands like Hawaii.
Goats Were Domesticated Early
Goats were among the first livestock species to be domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Evidence of early goat domestication has been found at archaeological sites in western Asia.
Some researchers believe goats were domesticated from wild bezoars (C. aegagrus), a mountain ibex found in West Asia.
They Don’t Love Rain
Goats prefer to avoid the rain. According to the USDA National Agricultural Library, goats will run to the nearest shelter at the first sign of a storm and dislike puddles and mud, likely an evolutionary adaptation to avoid parasites.
Many owners provide goats with elevated, covered shelters to help them stay dry.
There Are Different Types of Goats
There are three main types of goats: domestic goats (Capra hircus), typically found on farms; mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus), which live in rocky terrains in the northwestern United States; and wild goats (Capra genus), which include ibex, markhors, and turs.
Over 200 domestic breeds are raised worldwide for dairy, meat, and fiber.
Their Odd Eyes Have a Purpose
Goats’ horizontal, rectangular pupils provide a wider field of vision, helping them keep an eye out for predators.
A study published in Science Advances found that this pupil shape is common in grazing prey animals. It helps them see more of their surroundings while limiting the amount of light from above.
They Are Emotional
Goats have more complex emotional lives than many realize. They can learn a task within about 12 attempts, recognize friends by sound, and distinguish other goats’ emotions by listening to their calls.
A study published in Frontiers in Zoology found that goats showed different physiological reactions based on the emotions they heard, indicating a phenomenon known as emotional contagion.
They Come in All Kinds of Colors
Goats exhibit a variety of colors and patterns. They can be white, black, brown, gold, red, or a mix of these colors, and their patterns can range from solid to spotted or striped.
Some have unique markings, like a white band across their middle (belted) or a sprinkling of white hairs (roan).
They Have Interesting Names
Female goats are called does or nannies, while males are bucks or billies. Castrated males are known as wethers.
Young female goats are called doelings, and young males are bucklings. Baby goats are known as kids, and a group of goats is referred to as a tribe or a trip.
They Are Born With Teeth
Goats are born with baby teeth, known as deciduous incisors or milk teeth. These teeth grow in from the center of the jaw outwards, with a new pair usually appearing each week.
By the time a kid is about a month old, it has a full set of eight incisors. Adult goats have 32 teeth: 24 molars and 8 lower incisors, with a hard dental pad instead of upper front teeth.
They Come in All Shapes and Sizes
Goat breeds vary greatly in size, from miniature breeds like Nigerian dwarf goats, which weigh around 20 pounds (9 kilograms), to large breeds like Anglo-Nubians, which can weigh up to 250 pounds (113.5 kilograms).
Goats Have Unique Digestion
Goats are ruminants, meaning they have a four-compartment stomach: the reticulum, rumen, omasum, and abomasum.
This complex digestive system allows them to break down tough plant material effectively and absorb nutrients over a long digestive process, typically taking 11 to 15 hours.
They Play a Part in Mythology
Goats appear in various mythologies, such as Norse mythology, where Thor, the god of thunder, rode a chariot pulled by two goats, Tanngrisnir and TanngnjĂłstr.
In these myths, Thor could eat his goats and resurrect them with his hammer, adding a mythical dimension to their role.
