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goat

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Also known as domestic goat, goats, Capra hircus, C. hircus, Capra aegagrus hircus, C. aegagrus hircus, C. a. hircus

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, meaning it is closely related to the sheep. It was one of the first animals to be domesticated, in Iran around 10,000 years ago.

OverviewAI-generated

The goat, scientifically known as *Capra aegagrus hircus*, is a subspecies of the Wild Goat. It is classified as a productive animal and serves as a source for goat milk and goat meat. The organism possesses horns and is distinct from Koza.

Biological records indicate a heart rate of 75, a gestation period of 22, and a litter size of 2. The period of lactation lasts 305 days, with a life expectancy of 15 years and a longest observed lifespan of 20.8. The taxon is described in sources such as the Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition and the New International Encyclopedia.

The subject appears in the Commons category "Goats" and is associated with the Unicode character 🐐. It is referenced by 3,617 other encyclopedia articles. In PubMed, the query for goat yields a count of 55,371.

Synthesized by Vinony from 30 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, PubMed, iNaturalist, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Species

Common St. John's Wort

species

Observations118,116

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Research

55,371 papers

via PubMed

~25 min read

Encyclopedic overview

24 sections
Contents
  • Etymology
  • History
  • Biology
  • Description
  • Comparison with sheep
  • Behavior and ecology
  • Reproduction
  • Diet
  • Diseases and life expectancy
  • Agriculture
  • Husbandry
  • Worldwide population
  • Feral goats
  • Uses
  • Meat
  • Milk, butter, and cheese
  • Mohair and cashmere wool
  • Land clearing
  • Medical training
  • Pets
  • In culture
  • See also
  • References
  • External links

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, meaning it is closely related to the sheep. It was one of the first animals to be domesticated, in Iran around 10,000 years ago.

Goats have been used for milk, meat, wool, and skins across much of the world. Milk from goats is often turned into cheese. In 2022, there were more than 1.1 billion goats living in the world, of which 150 million were in India.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “goat” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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