Sheep and Goats

About Sheep and Goats

Sheep and goats are both herbivorous (plant-eating) mammals with hoofed feet. The two species share many other similarities in their personalities and behaviors, but plenty of differences separate the sheep from the goats.

Sheep

"Ewes" are adult female sheep, "rams" are adult males, and "lambs" are their children. Depending on their breed, ewes can weigh between 99 and 220 pounds, while rams weigh between 155 and 340 pounds. Some sheep have horns, which are often curved and grow throughout their lives. In the wild, sheep typically live for 7 years, but can live for 13 years.

As herbivores, sheep graze on grasses, leaves, twigs, and young plants. Much like cattle, sheep are ruminants, meaning that they digest their food in two steps. They chew their food once before regurgitating it in the form of "cud" and repeating the chewing process to thoroughly break down the food for digestion.

Sheep have highly developed social awareness and interactions. Researchers at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, England found that sheep can be taught to remember the faces of 50 different sheep. After learning what the other sheep looked like from the front, they were also able to recognize one another in profile, with their visual recognition lasting for up to two years. The study's findings were reported in a 2001 issue of Nature and concluded that sheep, like humans, have the capacity to distinguish between faces that are very similar in appearance. According to Dr. Keith Kendrick, one of the authors of the study, their remarkable memory systems and ability to recognize faces are signs of higher intelligence.

In everyday parlance, we may refer to a "herd of sheep" with negative overtones, suggesting that someone is conforming to the expectations of others. While sheep do have a strong instinct to "follow the leader," this is an important part of their social nature. A flock of sheep may follow the group's leader anywhere, but this characteristic can save them from predators, including coyotes, domestic dogs, mountain lions, and wolves, as animals who prey on sheep will home in on those sheep who separate from the flock. An individual sheep will become agitated when deprived of the security of her or his mates.

Goats

	USDA

Unlike sheep, goats have beards and pointed black horns. A "nanny" or "doe" is a female goat, a "buck" or "billy" is a male, and their children are called "kids." In the wild, goats can live anywhere from 9 to 12 years. Goats are most comfortable in groups, which are known as "tribes." Like sheep, goats are herbivores, grazing on grasses, herbs, tree leaves, and other plants. Goats are also ruminants, and chew cud to aid digestion.

Goats are very curious, intelligent, extroverted, flamboyant, and playful. For kids, play is very important because it helps them develop skills they will need later in life. For example, University of Colorado animal play expert Marc Bekoff notes that some types of play develop the mental and physical flexibility needed to respond to unexpected events such as pursuit by a predator. Some of the activities enjoyed by kids include galloping, jumping vertically into the air, leaping on their mothers’ backs, tossing their heads, and whirling around.

We use the phrase "butting heads" to describe two people in disagreement. For goats, rearing and butting heads is a way to establish dominance and create the herd’s social hierarchy. The dominant buck is responsible for the breeding of the does and for flock safety. However, the dominant buck only tends toward aggression during the breeding season. During the rest of the year, he will even let the leading female, or "queen" push him around. The queen obtains her position by bearing the most children in the flock.