Capra hircus
The domestic goat is the domesticated version of the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe.
Domestic goats are one of the oldest domesticated species. Goats seem to have been first domesticated roughly 10,000 years ago in the Zagros Mountains of Iran. Ancient cultures and tribes began to keep them for their milk, hair, meat, and skins.
As all ruminants, goats have a four-chambered stomach consisting of the rumen, the reticulum, the omasum, and the abomasum. Goats eat fresh or dried grasses, foliage of trees, shrubs, bushes, and various other plants. If permitted to graze an area, they will almost strip the land completely causing irreversible damage.
Goats have horizontal slit-shaped pupils, an adaptation that increases peripheral depth perception.
The picture of this Domestic Goat was taken at the zoo of Grand Rapids, Michigan, in August 2003.
Genus Capra
Subfamily Caprinae
Family Bovidae
Order Artiodactyla
Subclass Eutheria
Class Mammalia
Subphylum Vertebrata
Phylum Chordata
Kingdom Animalia
Life on Earth
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