Elephant puppet feeds the goats
3The goat or domestic goat (Capra hircus) is a species of domesticated goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the bezoar ibex (C. aegagrus aegagrus) of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the family Bovidae, meaning it is closely related to the sheep. There are more than 300 distinct breeds of goat.[1] It is one of the oldest domesticated species of animal - according to archaeological evidence its earliest domestication occurred in Iran at 10,000 calibrated calendar years ago.[2]
Goats have been used for milk, meat, fur, and skins across much of the world.[3] Milk from goats is often turned into goat cheese.
In 2011, there were more than 924 million goats living in the world, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.[4]