Goats Facts
Goats belong to the family bovidae. This family also includes deer, cows, sheep and antelope. They are social animals but they are not flock oriented. The scientific name for a domesticated goat is Capra aegagtus hircus and for a mountain goat is Oreamnos americanus. Goats were one of the first animals to be domesticated. They are extremely intelligent animals. They can be taught their name and to come when called.
Quick Facts: –
- A goat has four stomachs: – rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasums.
- Male goats are known as bucks and females are known as does. Baby goats are known as bucks.
- A female goat has a gestation period of about 5 months.
- They generally give birth to twins and triplets. Sometimes they can have quintuplets.
- A baby goat can stand within minutes of being born.
- A goat does not have any teeth on its upper jaw.
- They can easily survive in mountain area because they are incredibly good at balancing. They can climb trees as well.
- They are known for their loud burps. Rumen acts as fermentation vat. The gas produced in the fermentation process escapes in the form of loud burps.
- Different goats bleat in different accents.
- They are picky eaters, contrary to the common belief that they can eat almost everything.
- They have rectangular pupils like many hooved animals.
- Fainting goats do not faint in actual when frightened. It is a condition called myotonia congenita in which their muscles get temporarily paralyzed for about 10 seconds when they panic. It is the reason why they fall over.
- Lamancha goats have so small ears that you might think they were cut off.
- Cashmere is the most desirable wool because of its soft texture. It comes from cashmere goats.
- They can be found on almost every continent except Antarctica.
- On an average, a goat has around 15,000 taste buds.
- These animals do not have tear ducts.
