KidZone Animals
Goats: Science

Goat profile
Photographed by Stan Hua;
used with permission under CC BY 2.0

There are many types of goats--over 250, in fact! The entire biological family of goats is referred to as the Bovidae. Goats belong to the subfamily of Caprinae, which also includes sheep! Like other species in both the family Bovidae and subfamily Caprinae, goats are herbivores. This means that their diets are made up entirely of vegetation.

They definitely eat their veggies!

The origin of all goats can be traced to the Zagros Mountains that are located in Iraq, Iran, and Turkey. It is thought that goats were first domesticated (that is wild animals turned into farm animals) an impressive 10,000 years ago!

The natural life expectancy for goats is around 8 to 12 years but in some cases, goats can live over 15 years.