Goat Facts & Trivia
Goat Facts
- Goats live 8-12 years.
- There are over 200 breeds of goats.
- Both male and female goats can have horns and beards.
- There are approximately 500 million goats in the world.
- It is thought that people eat more goat meat than any other kind of meat.
- Goats belong to the genus Capra.
- Goats communicate with each other by bleating.
- Kids can follow their mothers almost immediately after being born.
- Goats are very intelligent.
- Goats have excellent coordination.
- Goats were domesticated around 7000 B.C.
- Goats can have 1-6 kids per litter.
- Goats are one of the earliest domesticated animals.
- Worldwide more people drink goat milk than any other variety.
- Egyptians worshiped goats.
- Greeks sacrificed them, making them “scape-goats.”
- The sign of Capricorn, represented by the goat, is known for creativity.
- In Latin the word for goat capre gives us capricious for lighthearted, or impulsive.
- Goats hate to get wet.
- Goats need a balanced grain nutrition.
- Goats are social animals.
- A goat’s eye is rectangular rather than round.
- The proper name for a group of goats is a trip.
- It is rumored that goats “discovered” coffee.
- Goats are herd animals and prefer the company of at least one other goat.
- Goats DO NOT eat tin cans or garbage.
- Mohair comes from the Angora goat.
- Cashmere comes from the Cashmere goat.
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Artiodactyla
- Family: Bovidae
Goat Movies
- Goats (2012)
- The Men Who Stare At Goats (2009)
- Goat Story (2008)
- The Feast of the Goat (2005)
Goat Songs
- Bill Grogan’s Goat, Children’s Song
- The Goats Came Marching, Children’s Song
- The Kids’ Goat Shuffle, Children’s Song
Famous Goats
- Amalthea, Mythology
- Batisse, White goat mascot of the Canadian Royal 22e Régiment
- Bill, The U.S. Naval Academy football team’s white mascot
- Bill Grogan’s goat, Who coughed up three red shirts and flagged a train in the camp song of the same name
- Billy (Lance Corporal William Windsor), Goat mascot of the 1st Battalion, Royal Welch regiment
- Billy Whiskers, Whiskers: The Autobiography of a Goat (1903)
- Hennes, Mascot of the FC Cologne rugby team in Cologne, Germany
- Jimmy, Who ate a box of dynamite in an Andy Griffith Show episode (“The Loaded Goat”) aired in 1963
- Nanny and Nanko, Tad Lincoln’s pets that lived at the White House while his dad, Abraham Lincoln, was President
- Old Whiskers, Russell Harrison’s pet goat while his father, President Benjamin Harrison, was in the White House
- Seven little goats, Of the Grimm Brothers fairytale The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats
- Three billy goats gruff, Of Norwegian folklore
- Türk, Buck goat in Johanna Spyri’s Heidi (1880)