Mammal Study 



275 



Saanen goats in Switzerland. 



Peer, Twenty-first Annual Report Bureau of Animal Industry, 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



THE GOAT 

 Teacher's Story 



Little do we in America realize the close companionship that has ex- 

 isted in older countries, from time immemorial, between goats and people. 

 This association began when man was a nomad, and took with him in his 

 wanderings, his flocks, of which goats formed the larger part. He then 

 drank their milk, ate their flesh, wove their hair into raiment, or made 

 cloth of their pelts, and used their skins for water bags. Among peoples 

 of the East all these uses continue to the present day. In the streets of 

 Cairo, old Arabs may be seen with goat skins filled with water upon their 

 backs; and in any city of Western Asia or Southern Europe, flocks of 

 goats are driven along the streets to be milked in sight of the consumer. 



In order to understand the goat's peculiarities of form and habit, we 

 should consider it as a wild animal, living upon the mountain heights amid 

 rocks and snow and scant vegetation. It is marvelously sure-footed, and 

 when on its native mountains, it can climb the sharpest crags and leap 

 chasms. This peculiarity has been seized upon by showmen who often 

 exhibit goats which walk on the tight rope with ease, and even turn 

 themselves upon it without falling. The instinct for climbing still 

 lingers in the domestic breeds, and in the country the goat may be seen on 

 top of stone piles or other objects, while in city suburbs, its form may be 

 discerned on the roofs of shanties and stables. 



It is a common saying that a goat will eat anything, and much sport 

 is made of this peculiarity. This fact has more meaning for us when we 

 realize that wild goats live in high altitudes, where there is little plant 

 life, and are therefore, obliged to find sustenance on lichens, moss and such 

 scant vegetation as they can find. 



