Goat was first domestic animal

19 February 2001



‘Goat was first domestic animal’

By FWi staff

GOATS were almost certainly the first animals to be domesticated by humans, according to research by American scientists.

Tribesmen from the Zagros mountains in Iran and Iraq were keeping goats in captivity 10,000 years ago, reports The Times.

Melinda Zeder of the American Museum of Natural History in Washington, who led the study pinpointed the date of domestication by analysing goat bones.

A high average age would indicate that an animal was wild, while a lower age suggested the animal was probably slaughtered on a farm.

• The Times February 19 2001