Wild Goats in Scotland, Wester Ross

This set of photographs was taken in April 2005 when we were on a weeks holiday up in the Scottish Highlands. We decided to travel back home by taking a slight detour over to the west coast and our favourite holiday location (Camusnagaul). The trip over went through snow storms and the outdoor weather was very cold. Just before we arrived at Camusnagaul I noticed the family of wild goats and immediately stopped the car to get out. of course in my enthusiasm I did not bother to put on a jacket so there I was in short a short sleeved shirt taking photographs of Wild Goats in bitter cold weather. After about half an hour taking photographs I ran out of memory on the camera and we went into Maggie's Tea Room and Craft Shop for a wonderful lunch of home made soup.

If you get a chance to visit Camusnagaul there is good local accommodation covering bed and breakfast, holiday cottages, caravans and a hostel - all at Camusnagaul. Camusnagaul is approx 30 miles south of Ullapool.

If you want to learn about Goats we have re-published the Wiki article on Goats below. This also gives you great links to some of the best free information on the Internet.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

A goat is an animal in the genus Capra, which consists of nine species: the Ibex, the West Caucasian Tur, the East Caucasian Tur, the Markhor, and the Wild Goat. The animal most commonly known as a "goat" is the domestic goat (Capra aegagrus hircus), which is a subspecies of the Wild Goat.

Goats are bovines (members of the family Bovidae) and are related to cows and antelopes. It is a stereotype that goats eat everything.

Goats are widely scattered throughout Eurasia and Africa.

The Rocky Mountain Goat, despite its name, is not considered a true goat by scientists as it belongs to the genus Oreamnos.

History

Along with sheep, goats were among the first domesticated animals. The domestication of goats started at least 10,000 years ago. Goat hair and milk were the most important reasons for their domestication. Goat skins were used for water and wine bottles when traveling and camping and as parchment for writing.

A common superstition was that goats whispered lewd sentences in the ears of the saints. This belief was started with the size of the male goat's phallus, which is unusually large.

Species and subspecies

Preferring woody and weedy species, goats select the young growing points first as they browse downward from the upper parts of a plant.
Photo by Scott Bauer for the USDA

Adult "Billy" Goat

Young goat at a British zoo

• Wild Goat (also "Bezoar Goat" or "Pasang"; Capra aegagrus). In the wild, goats live in flocks of 5-20 goats; males are solitary. Male goats go through a period called a rut, where they ready to mate. During the rut old males drive younger males from the maternal herds. The gestation period averages 170 days. Does usually give birth to one calf. Calves can follow the mother goat almost immediately after birth. Calves are weaned after 6 months. Female goats reach sexual maturity at 1.5-2.5 years, males at 3.5-4 years. The lifespan of a goat can from 12 to 22 years.
  • Domestic goat (Capra aegagrus hircus)
  • Kri-kri (also "Cretan goat," "Agrimi," or "Cretan Ibex"; Capra aegagrus creticus)
• West Caucasian Tur (Capra caucasia)
• East Caucasian Tur (Capra cylindricornis)
• Cashmere goat (Capra hircus)
• Markhor (Capra falconeri)
  • Bukharan Markhor (Capra falconeri heptneri)
  • Chialtan Markhor (Capra falconeri chialtanensis)
  • Straight-horned Markhor (Capra falconeri megaceros)
  • Suleman Markhor (Capra falconeri jerdoni)
• Alpine Ibex (Capra ibex)
  • Four subspecies
  • Capra ibex ibex
  • Nubian Ibex (Capra ibex nubiana, also classified as separate species)
  • Asiatic Ibex (Capra ibex sibirica, also classified as separate species)
• Nubian Ibex (Capra nubiana)
• Spanish Ibex (Capra pyrenaica)
  • Three subspecies
  • Pyrenean Ibex (extinct; Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica)
  • Portuguese Ibex (extinct; Capra pyrenaica lusitanica)
• Siberian Ibex (Capra sibirica)
• Walia Ibex (Capra walie)
• Asiatic Ibex (Capra sibirica)

This article and All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License