Goat Simulator Gameplay

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.

Goats feature in mythology, folklore, and religion in many parts of the world, including in the classical myth of Amalthea, in the goats that pulled the chariot of the Norse god Thor, in the Scandinavian Yule goat, and in Hinduism's goat-headed Daksha. In Christianity and Satanism, the devil is sometimes depicted as a goat.

Etymology

The Modern English word ''goat'' comes from Old English ''gāt'' "goat, she-goat", which in turn derives from Proto-Germanic *''gaitaz'' (cf. Dutch/ Frisian/ Icelandic/ Norwegian ''geit'', German ''Geiß'', and Gothic ''gaits''), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ''*ǵʰaidos'' meaning "young goat" (cf. Latin ''haedus'' "kid"). To refer to the male goat, Old English used ''bucca'' (cf. Dutch/ Frisian ''bok'', modern English ''buck'') until ousted by ''hegote'', ''hegoote'' ('he-goat') in the late 12th century. ''Nanny goat'' (adult female) originated in the 18th century, and ''billy goat'' (adult male) in the 19th century. Female goats, like other various animals, are also called ''does''.

Castrated males are called ''wethers''. While the words ''hircine'' and ''caprine'' both refer to anything having a goat-like quality, ''hircine'' is used most often to emphasize the distinct smell of domestic goats.

Juvenile goats are called ''kids'', a term derived from Old Norse ''kið'', with the same meaning. It has been a slang term for human children since the 1590s, and established as an informal term since the 1840s.

History

Goats are among the earliest animals to have been domesticated by humans. A genetic analysis confirms the archaeological evidence that the wild bezoar ibex, found today in the Zagros Mountains, but formerly widespread in Anatolia, is the likely original ancestor of all or most domestic goats today.

Neolithic farmers began to herd wild goats primarily for easy access to milk and meat, as well as to their dung, which was used as fuel; and their bones, hair, and sinew were used for clothing, building, and tools.Hirst, K. Kris
"The History of the Domestication of Goats".
''About.com''. Accessed August 18, 2008. The earliest remnants of domesticated goats dating 10,000 years Before Present are found in Ganj Dareh in Iran. Goat remains have been found at archaeological sites in Jericho, Choga Mami, Djeitun, and Çayönü, dating the domestication of goats in Western Asia at between 8,000 and 9,000 years ago. DNA evidence suggests that goats were domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Historically, goat hide has been used for water and wine bottles in both traveling and transporting wine for sale, and to produce parchment.

Biology

Description

Each breed of goat has specific weight ranges, which vary from more than for bucks of larger breeds such as the Boer, to for smaller does. Within each breed, different strains or bloodlines may have different recognized sizes. At the bottom of the size range are miniature breeds such as the African Pygmy, which stand at the shoulder as adults.

Most goats naturally have two horns, their shape and size depending on the breed.American Goat Society:Polled Genetics
, americangoatsociety.com. There have been incidents of polycerate goats (having as many as eight horns), although this is a genetic rarity. Unlike cattle, goats have not been successfully bred to be reliably polled, as the genes determining sex and those determining horns are closely linked. Breeding together two genetically polled goats results in a high number of intersex individuals among the offspring, which are typically sterile. Their horns are made of living bone surrounded by keratin and other proteins, and are used for defense, dominance, territoriality, and thermoregulation. Both male and female goats may have beards, and many types of goat (most commonly dairy goats, dairy-cross Boers, and pygmy goats) may have wattles, one dangling from each side of the neck. Goats have horizontal, slit-shaped pupils, allowing them to see well by both night and day, and giving them a wide field of vision on either side to detect predators, while avoiding being dazzled by sunlight from above. Goats have no tear ducts.

Goats are ruminants. They have a four-chambered stomach consisting of the rumen, the reticulum, the omasum, and the abomasum. As with other mammal ruminants, they are even-toed ungulates. The females have an udder consisting of two teats, in contrast to cattle, which have four teats. An exception to this is the Boer goat, which sometimes may have up to eight teats. Goats are diploid with two sets of 30 chromosomes.

File:Goat skeleton (cropped).jpg, Skeleton
File:Closeup of goat eye.jpg , Eye with horizontal pupil

Comparison with sheep

Sheep and goats are closely related: both are in the subfamily Caprinae. However, they are separate species, so hybrids rarely occur and are always infertile. A hybrid of a ewe and a buck is called a sheep-goat hybrid. Visual differences between sheep and goats include the beard of goats and the divided upper lip of sheep. Sheep tails hang down, even when short or docked, while the short tails of goats are held upwards. Sheep breeds are often naturally polled (either in both sexes or just in the female), while naturally polled goats are rare (though many are polled artificially). Males of the two species differ in that buck goats acquire a unique and strong odor during the rut, whereas rams do not.

Behavior and ecology

Goats are naturally curious. They are agile and able to climb and balance in precarious places. This makes them the only ruminant to regularly climb trees. These behaviours have made them notorious for escaping their pens by testing fences and enclosures. If any of the fencing can be overcome, goats almost inevitably escape. Goats are as intelligent as dogs by some studies.
When handled as a group, goats display less herding behavior than sheep. When grazing undisturbed, they spread across the field or range, rather than feed side by side as do sheep. When nursing young, goats leave their kids separated ("lying out") rather than clumped, as do sheep. They generally turn and face an intruder, and bucks are more likely to charge or butt at humans than are rams

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