Why do goats climb trees? Seven goats in a tree, photographed today

I don't know if you all still remember, but in a previous Species Calendar I talked about raising a donkey when I was little. This time let's switch animals and talk aboutthe domestic goat(Capra aegagrus hircus). I didn't raise goats when I was little, but the neighbor next door did keep one. I would always watch it from a distance, and never once fed it anything up close.

A domestic goat looking full of love & peace. Photo: Steve Ford Elliott / wikimedia

In that faraway place

Like the domestic donkey, the domestic goat has an extremely long history of domestication. The earliest record of domestic goat husbandry was found in Iran, dating back about ten thousand years.

People at the time domesticated goats mainly to make use of theirmeat, milk and hides, and evendung. That's right, in ancient times fuel was not so easy to come by, so burning goat dung was a good choice.

Shepherding has a long history and is still an important productive activity in places such as Egypt. Photo: Hassanelsayadd / wikimedia

Modern molecular genetics research has found that the domestic goat is very closely related to thewild goat(C. aegagrus) living in Europe and west-central Asia, and it can basically be confirmed that it was domesticated from them. Researchers therefore place the domestic goat under the wild goat as one of its subspecies.

The goat that walks on walls

Wild goats mostly live in stony desert regions, and many even live around sheer cliffs, their daily life like that of acrobats,leaping and twisting across narrow rocks. The main purpose of this isto avoid the threat of natural enemies, such as snow leopards. Although snow leopards have a big thick tail and very strong balance, wanting to eat a wild goat seems not to be so easy.

Goats among the rocks. Photo: Juan Carlos Munoz / NPL / mindenpictures

The domestic goat, domesticated from the wild goat, of course is alsoextraordinarily gifted. I never saw the neighbor's goat perform its stunts with my own eyes, but I often see all kinds of jaw-dropping goat behavior online - goats climbing trees, walking on vertical walls, and even on swaying bridge-shaped iron plates, goats can still calmly walk as if on flat ground. You really have to hand it to them.

You didn't miscount, there really are seven goats in the tree. Photo: Dave Watts / NPL / mindenpictures

This ability is related to the goat's feet, or more precisely, to its hooves. Ashoof-walkinganimals, whether wild goats or domestic goats, only their hooves touch the ground, and the contact area is very small, so as long as there is a bit of protruding rock, goats can step on it. The tips of goat hooves are very narrow and can grip the cracks between rocks firmly, and on top of living in such an environment for a long time, their balance is excellent, so they can easily take on these tasks that are almost impossible for most animals.

Note the goat's hooves. Photo: Quartl / wikimedia

A beard means more than age

If you ask children to describe what a goat looks like, most will surely say: they have longhorns, and also a longbeard。

Indeed, horns and a beard are two of the goat's more obvious features. Usually the male's horns are larger and the female's smaller, yetwhether female or male, they all grow a beard. We sometimes describe old men who keep beards as very wise, and this also applies to goats - a goat with a beard is also quite smart.

A female wild goat and a kid (far right). Photo: Andy Rouse / NPL / mindenpictures

A study of goats two years ago found that they can, like dogs and horses,try to communicate with humans. The researchers made the goats a lidded device with their favorite food inside. The researchers faced toward and away from the goats respectively, and recorded their foraging behavior.

The researchers found that when facing the goats, the goats would look at them and then walk toward them, as if asking them for help. Similar situations have also been found in other domesticated pets such as dogs. Emmm... with such strong interactivity, taking a goat out for a walk seems pretty cool too.

The researcher pretending not to care. Photo: Christian Nawroth, et al./Biology Letters (2016)

However, compared with the gentle-tempered sheep, goats can bea bit fierce. Remember what I said earlier, that I only watched the neighbor's goat from a distance, because in my young memory, I could always hear adults warning that "goats might headbutt people."

Indeed, although goats aresocial animals, they arefairly territorial, and if the same species or other animals intrude into their territory, they will drive them away. Many herders like to make use of the goat's alertness and defensiveness,raising sheep and goats together, so that the flock is attacked by other animals much less often than when there are only sheep.

But you can't raise only goats either, because goats, unlike sheep, don't like to crowd together when eating, but rather like to spread out to eat,and as they walk along they may scatter everywhere, making it hard for the owner to find them. With sheep present, the whole flock won't scatter too much, making it easier for the owner to find them.

Eating is also part of culture

In another two months, most parts of the country will enter winter. Whenever the cold season comes, especially winter in the north, people like to sit around together and eatpiping hotinstant-boiled mutton。

As the head of the six domestic animals, the goat/sheep is mainly used for meat (the six domestic animals refer to the horse, ox, goat/sheep, chicken, dog and pig, and the ordering is still disputed). In fact both goats and sheep can be used for meat, and each has its own advantages -Mutton has a bit more fat, so the meat is on the delicate and tasty side;goatmeat has relatively lower cholesterol, which is friendlier to people who are concerned about cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

Instant-boiled mutton. Photo: Liu Zhuoqun / Dongfang IC

Roast goat. Photo: Alpha / wikmedia

Because sheep look rounder and plumper than goats, many people think all wool comes from sheep, but in factgoat haircan also be used for clothing. For example, the cashmere goat produces very high-quality wool, which is also one of the most expensive pure natural wools.

In addition, wild goats are also used for the dairy industry. Photo: Suzi Eszterhas / NPL / mindenpictures

Xu Shen of the Ming dynasty said in the Shuo Wen, "Sheep section": "Sheep, auspiciousness." Since ancient times, people have regarded the goat/sheep asa symbol of good fortune, and many unearthed artifacts are engraved with the image of a goat/sheep. The goat/sheep also carries many meanings in Chinese culture; whether it is the "lamb kneeling to nurse" learned in childhood, or the "the flock gathers but forms no faction" heard as an adult, both are culture derived from goats/sheep, including the goat.

The Five Rams Statue in Yuexiu Park, Guangzhou. Photo: Gzdavidwong / wikmedia

However, when goats run out into the wild, sometimes things can get out of hand. Because they are not picky eaters, goats will eat many of the plants wherever they go, and if there are no natural enemies to control their numbers, they can affect the local environment and become an invasive species.

So as things stand now, the best fate for the domestic goat is still to be eaten and used, and if that really doesn't work out, being a pet isn't bad either.

This article is the 270th article of the 4th year of Species Calendar, from Species Calendar author @He Changhuan.

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