A goat raised by people for milk, fiber and meat. It prefers the company of other goats.
Coat color, ears and horn shape vary among breeds. Males are generally larger than females and have conspicuous beards.
Do goats respond to pictures of smiling people? Researchers studied 35 goats at a sanctuary in the United Kingdom. Five did not meet the training criterion, and ten showed no interest in the pictures during the first trial, leaving 20 goats in the study. Each goat saw pictures of the same unfamiliar person smiling and looking angry, with image positions and the person's gender varied across four trials. Researchers recorded which picture each goat first interacted with, and how often and for how long it directed its gaze at or touched each image.
Across trials, first interactions more often favored the smiling image. The adjusted probability was 82% when the smiling face was on the right and 44% when it was on the left. The goats also tended to interact first with images on the right, and the authors noted that they might have avoided the angry faces. The study observed how sanctuary goats that regularly met people responded to still photographs.
IUCN Red List · Not Evaluated (NE) · Global
The ASM Mammal Diversity Database lists the IUCN Red List status of domestic goat (Capra hircus) as Not Evaluated (NE) globally. On Moloka‘i, Hawai‘i, researchers compared a fenced plot that excluded feral goats with an unfenced plot where goat numbers were reduced by control. From 2009 to 2014, plant cover increased in both plots, including native Sida fallax and Panicum fauriei. Alien grass Melinis repens also increased inside the fenced plot, reaching 18.4% cover in 2014.