The Angora or Ankara is a Turkish

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

of domesticated goat. It produces the lustrous fibre known as

mohair Mohair (pronounced ) originated from the Arabic word �هيرand it is a fabric or yarn made from the hair of the Angora goat (not Angora wool from the fur of the Angora rabbit). Both durable and resilient, mohair is lustrous with high shee ...

. It is widespread in many countries of the world. Many breeds derive from it, among them the Indian Mohair, the

Soviet Mohair The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by area ...

, the Angora-Don of the Russian Federation and the Pygora in the United States.

History

The origin of the Angora is not known. The earliest Western description may be that published in 1555 by

Pierre Belon Pierre Belon (1517–1564) was a French traveller, natural history, naturalist, writer and diplomat. Like many others of the Renaissance period, he studied and wrote on a range of topics including ichthyology, ornithology, botany, comparative anat ...

, who while travelling from Heraclea to

Konya Konya is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium. In 19th-century accounts of the city in En ...

in southern Turkey had seen goats with snow-white "... wool so delicate that one would judge it finer than silk ...". Angora goats were depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 50

lira Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current Turkish lira, currency of Turkey and also the local name of the Lebanese pound, currencies of Lebanon and of Syrian pound, Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, ...

banknote from 1938 to 1952. In 1960 there were over 6 million Angora goats in Turkey; the population subsequently dropped sharply. In 2004 the total goat population of the country was approximately 7.2 million; of these, just over 5% were of Angora stock, while the remainder were hair goats. A

conservation programme The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to manage and protect natural resources, including animal, fungus, and plant species as well as their habitat for the f ...

for the Angora was established in 2003.

Characteristics

The Angora is a moderately small goat, standing about at the

withers Withers are the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, this ridge is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, catt ...

. It is slender, elegant and light-framed; the head is small, with semi-lop ears. It is usually horned; in billies the horns are commonly long, twisted and strong. With the exception of the face and legs, the animal is entirely covered in a coat of long ringlets of fine and lustrous

. This is not goat hair as seen on other breeds, but the down or undercoat which, in this breed only, grows much longer than the outer hair coat. The face and coat are normally white, but – particularly in southern Turkey – black, brown and grey animals also occur.

Use

The goats are reared either for

or for their

goat's meat Goat meat is the meat of the domestic goat (''Capra hircus''). The term 'goat meat' denotes meat of older animals, while meat from young goats is called 'kid meat'. In South Asian cuisine, goat meat is called mutton, along with sheep meat.''Oxf ...

. Mohair is not as fine as cashmere, but yields are much higher. Unlike cashmere, which is obtained by combing the coat of the goat, mohair is obtained by

shearing Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. The person who removes the sheep's wool is called a '' shearer''. Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year (depending upon dialect, a sheep may be sai ...

; this is commonly done twice per year. In 2010 approximately half of all mohair production was in South Africa; Argentina and

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

were also major producers, followed by the United States, Turkey, Australia and New Zealand. In some other countries the Angora is reared for its meat, which is succulent and tender, and which in the early twentieth century was described as the best of its kind in the world.

Notes

References

{{Authority control Fiber-producing goat breeds Goat breeds originating in Turkey Goat breeds

History

Characteristics

Use

See also

Notes

References