Goat

The goat or domestic goat (Capra hircus) is a species of goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (C. aegagrus) of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the family Bovidae and is closely related to the sheep. It was one of the first animals to be domesticated, in Iran around 10,000 years ago.

Goats have been used for milk, meat, wool, and skins across much of the world. Milk from goats is often turned into cheese. In 2022, there were more than 1.1 billion goats living in the world, of which 150 million were in India.

Goats feature in mythology, folklore, and religion in many parts of the world, including in the Greek myth of Amalthea, in the goats that pulled the chariot of the Norse god Thor, in the Scandinavian Yule goat, in Hinduism's goat-headed Daksha, in the Israelite ritual of the scapegoat, and in Christianity as a common depiction of Satan, among others.