Few people know that wild goats are the ancestors of ordinary domestic goats. Outwardly, a significant difference is noticeable between them, even in the same behavior. Nevertheless, they have common roots. Millennia spent next to humans have had an impact on domesticated animals. However, to this day, wild goats live on earth. We want to talk about them in our article.
Wild mountain goats
The wild goats that still live in the wild are probably the progenitors of modern domestic goats. They are divided into different types, subspecies. In our article we want to talk about some of them. Wild goats are ruminant mammals, which at present, depending on the classification, number from eight to ten species. They mainly live in mountainous areas. Such animals are very mobile, hardy, can survive on lands with very sparse vegetation. Conventionally, they can be divided into three types: tours, goats and capricorns. Let's talk about some of them.
Horned goat
Where does the horned goat live? Markhur lives in Turkmenistan (in the Kugitang mountains), Tajikistan (in the Darvaz, Babatag and Kugitangtau ranges), Uzbekistan (in the upper reaches of the Amu Darya), Afghanistan, Eastern Pakistan and in northwestern India.
Outwardly, marhur is not like the rest of the mountain goats. His horns have a special shape, which is why, in fact, he received the name hornhorn. The horns are twisted in several revolutions, with the right twisted to the right, and the left to the left. Males have distinctive features in the form of a long beard and lush hair on the chest. The color of animals varies from red to gray. Representatives of the male can reach 80-120 kilograms, twice as much as females. Markhur reaches one meter in height.
Where the goat goat lives, there is not such a wide choice of food, therefore in summertime the basis of the diet is grassy vegetation, but in the winter months thin branches of trees are used. Even at the sight of a dangerous enemy, the goats continue to graze, at times raising their heads and observing the situation. But if they only lose sight of a predator, they instantly disappear from sight. Markhurs live, as a rule, in small groups, and during the rutting season they unite in herds consisting of 15-20 individuals. In the wild, horned goats, as a rule, do not live for more than ten years. But the animals that are kept in zoos calmly live to twenty.
West Caucasian, or Kuban tour
These animals are very graceful. The West Caucasian tour lives on the border of Georgia and Russia. Its habitat is not very large and represents only a narrow strip with an area of about 4, 500 square kilometers, which is constantly being reduced due to human activity.
The Kuban tour is considered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as a species that is in great danger. There are currently no more than 10, 000 individuals worldwide. In the wild, the West Caucasus tour often meets the East Caucasus, as a result of which hybrid individuals are born that are not able to give offspring. This is also one of the reasons for the decrease in livestock.
Kuban tours are genetically close with bezoar goats, and their external resemblance to Dagestan tours can be explained by hybridization, which is confirmed by recent scientific studies.
Appearance and behavior of the West Caucasian tour
The West Caucasian tour has a very strong and massive physique. Adult males weigh between 65 and 100 kilograms. But the females are slightly inferior in weight (no more than 60 kilograms). Accordingly, females have significantly less horns than males. The horns of males are quite massive and heavy, reaching a length of 75 centimeters. But their diameter is not as large as, for example, among the East Caucasian representatives. But the tails of females and males are the same. The upper part of the Kuban tour has a red-brown color, and the bottom is yellow. In winter, the coat has a grayish-brown hue, which allows the animal to merge with the environment.
West Caucasian tours are very careful. Adults spend all summer far away in the mountains, not allowing anyone to approach them. But females live in small herds, matriarchy reigns in their communities. Females are engaged in raising young animals, helping each other in this. It is noted that females are very caring mothers, in case of danger they will never abandon their offspring and until the last will try to lead the babies away from the hunters.
Males are raised in herds until puberty, and at the age of 3-4 years they are expelled, but at the same time they still do not know how to live independently, therefore they unite in small groups. But already at the age of 6-7 years, males become strong enough to fight for the female.
In winter, Kuban tours are periodically combined into large heterosexual herds, since it is easier for everyone to transfer the cold together. In such periods, the feed becomes very small, so the animals not only eat the dry grass found under the snow, but also eat bark from coniferous trees, gnaw young shoots of birch, willow and pine needles, they eat ivy and blackberry leaves with an incredible appetite.
Himalayan tar
Himalayan tar is a goat, which is sometimes called a goat antelope. The animal looks really very similar to a goat, but at the same time it has a long brown-red coat, one meter in height. Containers, as a rule, try to stay in small family groups. Sometimes they are combined into herds, the number of which reaches 30-40 individuals. The containers are very careful and, at the slightest danger, run over stones through the woods, easily passing steep slopes. During the mating season, animals fight horns with each other, fighting for the female.
Arabian tar
The Arabian tar lives in only one region on the earth - this is the Hajar mountainous region on the Arabian Peninsula, which is partially located in Oman and partially on the lands of the UAE. Animals live in the mountains and rocks in extremely dry climates.
Tar Arabian has a dense physique, strong legs, suitable for climbing steep rocks. The animal is completely covered with a reddish-brown hair, and a dark strip stretches along the back. Females and males have long, bent back horns.
Siberian Capricorn
Siberian capricorns are the inhabitants of the rocky mountains. Their southern and western counterparts live mainly on treeless highlands, and the northern ones - in the forest zone. Animals are large in size and have highly developed legs, as well as long saber-shaped horns. Males are larger than females and reach one hundred kilograms, and their height at the withers varies between 67 and 110 cm. Siberian capricorns live on rocks and mountain slopes at different heights. They can be found in Mongolia, Sayan mountains and Altai.
Alpine goats
Alpine mountain goats are representatives of the genus of mountain goats, which can only be seen in the Alps. They live at an altitude of up to 3.5 thousand meters and love to surprise tourists with their ability to climb steep cliffs. Animals feel great in the mountains, on the border of the forest and ice. In winter, in search of food, goats are forced to descend slightly lower, but they rarely do this, since alpine meadows are dangerous for them in terms of predators. But capricorns also show unprecedented caution. Going to a watering place or just to a pasture, they always leave a guard goat, which will be able to warn others about the danger in time.
Alpine goats are large enough animals whose weight can reach one hundred kilograms with a height of one and a half meters. Females, of course, are much more modest in size, their weight hardly reaches forty kilograms. Like their Siberian relatives, they boast impressive horns. In males, they can reach one meter, but in females this part is slightly less.
Horns for animals are not just decorations, but very serious weapons. In the period from November to January, the mating season begins. At this time, single males begin to look for a suitable herd of females, chasing away all rivals away from them. Often they have to participate in real serious battles, in which powerful horns are the main weapon. Having conquered a herd of goats, the animal remains for some time in it, and in the spring each female gives birth to one or two kids. Over the next year, they feed their offspring with milk.
In the future, the grown generation behaves in the same way as other wild goats, the species of which are given by us in the article: females do not leave their herd, but mature males will have to leave. At the beginning of an independent life, males try to create their own herds, but, as a rule, they quickly disintegrate.
