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Goats
Capra
Capra is a genus of mammals, the goats, comprising ten species, including the markhor and several species known as ibexes. The domestic goat (Capra hircus) is a domesticated species derived from the bezoar ibex (Capra aegagrus aegagrus), a subspecies of the wild goat. It is one of the oldest domesticated species of animal—according to archaeological evidence its earliest domestication occurred in Iran at 10,000 calibrated calendar years ago.
Wild goats are animals of mountain habitats. They are very agile and hardy, able to climb on bare rock and survive on sparse vegetation. They can be distinguished from the genus Ovis, which includes sheep, by the presence of scent glands close to the feet, in the groin, and in front of the eyes, and the absence of other facial glands, and by the presence of a beard in some specimens, and of hairless calluses on the knees of the forelegs.
11 branches of this genus, most-observed first · about 10 known species

Domestic Goat
speciesCapra hircus

Alpine Ibex
speciesCapra ibex

Iberian Ibex
speciesCapra pyrenaica

Nubian Ibex
speciesCapra nubiana

Siberian Ibex
speciesCapra sibirica

Wild Goat
speciesCapra aegagrus

West Caucasian Tur
speciesCapra caucasica

Markhor
speciesCapra falconeri

East Caucasian Tur
speciesCapra cylindricornis

Walia Ibex
speciesCapra walie

Capra aegagrus × hircus
hybridCapra aegagrus × hircus
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the old herbals & bestiaries

Ten Books of Exotic Things
Carolus Clusius · 1605 · p.557

Commentaries on the Six Books of Pedanius Dioscorides on Medical Matter
Pietro Andrea Mattioli · 1565 · p.911

On the Names of Plants
Hieronymus Bock (Tragus) · 1552 · p.354

Medical and Philosophical Garden
Joachim Camerarius · 1588 · p.353

Jan Moninckx; Maria Moninckx — Moninckx Atlas, vol. 2 (1686)
Jan Moninckx; Maria Moninckx · 1686 · p.12
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Capra in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 42348.