Why Do Goats Climb Trees and Cliffs? Agile Climbers

Climbing is in the goat’s genes

The domestic goat is descended from the wild bezoar goat (Capra aegagrus), which still lives on steep, rocky mountainsides from Turkey and the Caucasus to Iran and Pakistan. Its close relatives, the ibex and markhor, are among the most skilled mountain climbers in the animal world.

For these wild goats, cliffs are a refuge. Wolves, leopards and other predators struggle to follow them onto narrow ledges, so the safest place for a goat is often the steepest. Ten thousand years of farming has not erased this instinct. Domestic goats still head for high ground, stand on rocks, walls, cars and roofs, and look for the highest point in their field.

How goat hooves grip rock

The secret of goat climbing starts with the feet. Like other even-toed hoofed mammals, goats walk on two toes, each covered by a hoof. Goat hooves combine two different materials:

• A hard outer rim of keratin, which can catch on tiny edges and cracks in rock, much as a climber uses the edge of a boot.
• A softer, slightly rubbery inner pad, which molds to uneven surfaces and gives friction, like the sole of a climbing shoe.

The two toes can spread apart, increasing grip and allowing the foot to wrap around a bump in the rock. Behind them are two small dewclaws, which help brake when the goat is coming down a slope.

Balance, strength and body shape

Feet are only part of the story. Goats have strong shoulder and leg muscles that let them push their body upward from a near standstill, and they can jump onto ledges well above their own height.

Goats are also relatively compact and short-legged for their weight, which keeps their center of gravity low and close to the rock. They can place all four hooves very close together on a tiny ledge and pivot to turn around. Young ibex filmed on a near-vertical dam wall in Italy climbed in a zig-zag path rather than straight up, a common way to reduce effort on steep ground.

Why do goats climb trees?

Domestic goats are the only ruminant livestock that regularly climb trees. Goats are browsers that prefer leaves, shoots and twigs to grass, so when the ground is bare, the best food is often above their heads. Goats first stand on their hind legs to reach low branches, then step up onto sloping trunks and limbs. You can read more about their diet in Do goats really eat anything?.

The tree goats of Morocco

The most famous tree-climbing goats live in the Souss region of southwestern Morocco, where the spiny, gnarled argan tree (Argania spinosa) grows. In late summer and autumn, when little grass is left, goats climb several meters into the branches to eat the leaves and the olive-like fruit, sometimes with many goats in a single tree.

A 2017 study led by Miguel Delibes of Spain’s Doñana Biological Station showed that this has an ecological side effect. While chewing their cud, the goats spit out many of the hard argan seeds, which can then sprout away from the parent tree. The goats act as seed dispersers.

Argan seeds contain the kernels used to make argan oil. Traditionally, some of these seeds were gathered after goats had spat them out or passed them, although much of the fruit is also collected by hand from the ground and the trees. In recent years, journalists have reported that some herders near tourist roads place goats in trees for visitors’ photographs, and animal welfare groups have criticized the practice.

Wild goats and record-breaking climbs

Some wild relatives of the goat are even more extreme climbers:

• Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) live on steep rock at about 1,800–3,300 m (5,900–10,800 ft) in the Alps. In Piedmont, Italy, females and kids have been photographed climbing the almost vertical stone wall of the Cingino Dam, at a slope of about 57 degrees, to lick mineral salts from the stone. Kids have been seen about 49 m (161 ft) up.
• Nubian ibex climb desert cliffs in the Middle East and northeast Africa.
• Markhor, the national animal of Pakistan, scale cliffs in the mountains of Central and South Asia.

The North American mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus) is another superb climber, but it is not a true goat. It belongs to a separate genus and is more closely related to the European chamois.

Do goats climb just for fun?

Food and safety explain most climbing, but goats also seem to climb out of curiosity. Kids especially spend much of their time leaping onto rocks, logs and each other, jumping off and doing it again. This play builds the strength and coordination they will need as adults.

Goats also use height to keep watch. A goat standing on a rock has a clearer view over the surrounding land, and its wide, rectangular pupils let it scan the horizon for danger, as explained in Why do goats have rectangular pupils?.

Myths and facts about climbing goats

Myth: goats never fall. Goats are very sure-footed, but they do slip, especially on wet rock. Falls, rockslides and avalanches are a known cause of death in wild ibex.

Myth: the Moroccan tree goats are a different breed. They are ordinary local domestic goats that learn to climb from an early age.

Fact: goat kids are climbers almost from birth. A newborn kid can usually stand within an hour and starts hopping onto low objects within days.