Goat Antelope

Definition: Goat Antelope

Goat Antelope

Noun

1. Bovid related to goats but having antelope-like features: mountain goats; gorals; serows; chamois; gnu goats.

Specialty Definition: Goat antelope

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

GOAT ANTELOPES

Barbary Sheep.
Larger version

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Artiodactyla

Family: Bovidae

Subfamilies: Caprinae
Panthalopinae

Genera

Capricornis
Nemorhaedus
Rupicapra
Oreamnos
Budorcas
Ovibos
Hemitragus
Ammotragus
Pseudois
Capra
Ovis
Pantholops

A goat antelope is any of the 26 species of mostly medium-sized herbivores that make up the subfamily Caprinae or the single species in subfamily Panthalopinae. The domestic sheep and domestic goat are both part of the goat antelope group, and the group itself is part of the family Bovidae, which in other branches contains the antelopes and domestic cattle.
The goat antelope or caprid group is known from as early as the Miocene, but did not reach its greatest diversity until the recent ice ages, when many of its members became specialised for marginal, often extreme, environments: mountains, deserts, and the sub-Arctic region. In consequence, although most goat antelopes are gregarious and have a fairly stocky build, they diverge in many other ways. The Musk Ox became adapted to the extreme cold of the tundra; the Mountain Goat of North America specialised in very rugged terrain; the Urial, probable ancestor of modern Domestic Sheep, occupied a largely infertile area from Kashmir to Iran, including much desert country.
Many of the ice age species are now extinct, probably largely because of human interaction. Of the survivors, no less than 5 are classifed as endangered, 8 as vulnerable, 7 as of concern and needing conservation measures but at lower risk, and just 7 species are secure.
Members of the group vary considerably in size, from just over a metre for a full-grown Goral to almost 2.5 metres for a Musk Ox, and from under 30 kilos to more than 350 kilos. Musk Oxen in captivity have reached over 650 kilos.
In lifestyle, the caprids fall into two broad classes, resource defenders which are territorial and defend a small, food-rich area against other members of the same species, and grazers, which gather together into herds and roam freely over a larger, usually relatively infertile area.
The resource defenders are the more primitive group: they tend to be smaller in size, dark in colour, males and females fairly alike, have long, tasselated ears, a long mane, and dagger-shaped horns. The grazers evolved more recently. They tend to be larger, highly social, and rather than mark territory with scent glands, they have highly evolved dominance behaviours. There is no sharp dividing line between the groups, just a continuum between the serows at one end of the spectrum and sheep, true goats, and Musk Oxen at the other.
The ancestors of the modern sheep and goats (both rather vague and ill-defined terms) are thought to have moved into mountainous regions: sheep becoming specialised occupants of the foothills and nearby plains, and relying on flight and clumping for defence against predators; goats adapting to very steep terrain where predators are at a disadvantage.

Mountain Goat.

FAMILY BOVIDAE
Subfamily Bovinae: cattle and spiral-horned antelopes, 24 species in 9 genera
Subfamily Cephalophinae: duikers, 19 species in 2 genera
Subfamily Hippotraginae: grazing antelopes. 23 species in 11 genera
Subfamily Antilopinae: gazelles, dwarf antelopes and the Saiga, 38 species in 14 genera
Subfamily Caprinae
Mainland Serow, Capricornis sumatraensis
Japanese Serow, Capricornis crispus
Goral, Nemorhaedus goral
Chamois, Rupicapra rupicapra
Pyrenean Chamois, Rupicapra pyrenaica
Mountain Goat, Oreamnos americanus
Takin, Budorcas taxicolor
Musk Ox, Ovibos moschatus
Himalayan Tahr, Hemitragus jemlahicus
Nilgiri Tahr, Hemitragus hylocrius
Arabian Tahr, Hemitragus jayakari
Barbary Sheep, Ammotragus lervia
Blue Sheep, Pseudois nayaur
Wild Goat, Capra aegagrus
Ibex, Capra ibex
Markhor, Capra falconeri
East Caucasian Tur, Capra cylindricornis
West Caucasian Tur, Capra caucasia
Urial, Ovis orientalis
Argali, Ovis ammon
Mouflon, Ovis musimon
Snow Sheep, Ovis nivicola
Thinhorn Sheep, Ovis dalli
American Bighorn Sheep, Ovis canadensis
Domestic Sheep, Ovis aries
Subfamily Panthalopinae
Chiru, Panthalops hodgsoni
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Goat antelope."

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Crosswords: Goat Antelope

English words defined with "goat antelope": Budorcas taxicolor ♦ Chikara ♦ gnu goat, goral ♦ Naemorhedus goral ♦ serow ♦ takin. (references)

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Image Slideshow: Goat Antelope

Computer Images: Goat Antelope
	Subject(s): ... Capra, falconeri, goat antelope ...
	Subject(s): ... Capricornis, crispus, goat antelope ...
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Anagrams: Goat Antelope

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-a-e-e-g-l-n-o-o-p-t-t"
	-3 letters: gantelope.
	-4 letters: antelope, elongate, gantlope, panetela, plottage, toeplate.
	-5 letters: apnoeal, apogeal, apogean, elegant, galeate, gantlet, pageant, paletot, palette, peltate, peonage, planate, platane, platoon, polenta, pottage, potteen, tangelo, tapetal, tentage, tetanal.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.