We all love our Rocky Mountain goats. We admire their beautiful coats and marvel at their surefootedness as they move across insanely steep, rocky slopes. Around here they are commonly found on the upper portions of Mount Evans, near Denver. But there are more than 300 species of goats around the world, and today I found some pictures of a whole new kind of goat — Moroccan tree-climbing goats.
Startling, to say the least. The Weather Channel currently features a gallery of more than 80 photos of goats from all over the world, some browsing in the tops of trees, some walking nonchalantly along 2-inch rocky crevices a thousand feet above the valley floor. All nimble and mostly all beautiful.
The tree climbing thing has an agricultural purpose. The goats eat the fruit of the Argan trees and drop the nuts. Local villagers collect the nuts and from them take Argan seeds. From the seeds they extract Argan oil, one of the most expensive in the world.
Amazing what you can find on the Weather Channel.
Way back in the 70’s I was driving along a minor highway that’s adjacent to the Rio Grand toward Big Bend National Park when I observed goats apparently walking up and down a nearly vertical cliff on the Mexican side. Your post reminded me of my fascination with them that I’ve never forgotten.
Some of the photos in the gallery left me absolutely flabbergasted. There’s a detailed description of how their splayed hooves help them, but they still seem to defy gravity.
Oh. My. God.
Goats that climb trees. Will wonders never cease?
Pied? I’m kinda trippin’ on this. Not in the bad way. In the way of, um, “Goats that climb trees exist, so maybe mankind really can save ourselves by colonizing Mars…”
Great post! Thanks, Pied.
Yep, I was pretty stunned. I’d never seen or heard of such a thing.
I wanna buy one. In some way that is ethical. To bring it home to Santa Barbara. To put it atop our local phenom, which happens to be one Moreton Bay Fig. But only if that goat would actually want eat it’s figs, and only if that goat wouldn’t end up feelin’ lonely.
It probably would be a kindness to get two goats so they won’t be lonely. I don’t know if goats like figs, but when I was a kid (no pun intended), I was told that goats will eat anything and everything — including tin cans. I doubt that last part …
One more thing. I too like their coats. Alot.
I can’t speak for the Moroccan goats, but the white coats on the Rocky Mountain ones are gorgeous.
Sillycreatures think they’re monkeys! O_o 😛
Doing a pretty good imitation, aren’t they?
What I like about goats is they chase / kill snakes as well as thin brush so you don’t have to. My kind of animal
I didn’t know that. Reason enough to have one if snakes are around. I really, really don’t like snakes.