Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Cladus: Synapsida
Cladus: Eupelycosauria
Cladus: Sphenacodontia
Cladus: Sphenacodontoidea
Cladus: Therapsida
Cladus: Theriodontia
Cladus: Cynodontia
Cladus: Eucynodontia
Cladus: Probainognathia
Cladus: Prozostrodontia
Cladus: Mammaliaformes
Classis: Mammalia
Subclassis: Trechnotheria
Infraclassis: Zatheria
Supercohors: Theria
Cohors: Eutheria
Infraclassis: Placentalia
Cladus: Boreoeutheria
Superordo: Laurasiatheria
Cladus: Scrotifera
Cladus: Ferungulata
Cladus: Euungulata
Ordo: Artiodactyla
Cladus: Artiofabula
Cladus: Cetruminantia
Subordo: Ruminantia
Cladus: Pecora
Superfamilia: Bovoidea
Familia: Bovidae
Subfamilia: Caprinae
Genus: Capra
Species: C. aegagrus – †C. camburgensis –[1] C. caucasica - C. cylindricornis - †C. dalii - C. falconeri – C. hircus – C. ibex - C. nubiana - C. pyrenaica - C. sibirica - C. walie
Name
Capra Linnaeus, 1758
Gender: feminine
Type species: Capra hircus
Fixation: Linnean tautonymy
References
Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis, Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Holmiæ: impensis direct. Laurentii Salvii. i–ii, 1–824 pp DOI: 10.5962/bhl.title.542: 68. Open access Reference page.
Capra in Mammal Species of the World.
Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn M. (Editors) 2005. Mammal Species of the World – A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. Third edition. ISBN 0-8018-8221-4.
Vernacular names
العربية: وعل
беларуская: Горныя казлы
eʋegbe: Alè
hrvatski: Koze
magyar: Kőszáli kecskék
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). Evidence of goat domestication dates back more than 8,500 years.
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.[1]
Taxonomy
Male Nubian ibex
Caprine heart.
All members of the genus Capra are bovids (members of the family Bovidae), and more specifically caprines (subfamily Caprinae). As such they are ruminants, meaning they chew the cud, and have four-chambered stomachs which play a vital role in digesting, regurgitating, and redigesting their food.
The genus has sometimes been taken to include Ovis (sheep) and Ammotragus (Barbary sheep),[2] but these are usually regarded as distinct genera, leaving Capra for ibexes. In this smaller genus, some authors have recognized only two species, the markhor on one side and all other forms included in one species on the other side.[3] Today, nine wild species are usually accepted to which is added the domestic goat:[4]
West Asian ibex also known as the wild goat (Capra aegagrus)
Bezoar ibex (Capra aegagrus aegagrus)
Sindh ibex (Capra aegagrus blythi)
Domestic goat (Capra hircus; includes feral goat; sometimes considered a subspecies of C. aegagrus)
Asian ibex also known as the Siberian ibex (Capra sibirica)[5]
Markhor (Capra falconeri)
West Caucasian tur (Capra caucasica)
East Caucasian tur (Capra cylindricornis)
Alpine ibex (Capra ibex)
Iberian ibex also known as the Spanish ibex (Capra pyrenaica)[6]
Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana)
Walia ibex (Capra walie)
The goats of the genus Capra have complex systematic relationships, which are still not completely resolved. Recent studies based on mitochondrial DNA suggest that the Asian ibex and the Nubian ibex represent distinct species, which are not very closely related to the physically similar Alpine ibex. The Alpine ibex forms a group with the Iberian ibex. The West Caucasian tur appears to be more closely related to the wild goat than to the East Caucasian tur. The markhor is relatively little separated from other forms—previously it had been considered to be a separate branch of the genus.[7]
Almost all wild goat species are allopatric (geographically separated)—the only geographical overlaps are the wild goat (Capra aegagrus) with the East Caucasian tur (Capra cylindricornis), and the markhor (Capra falconeri) with the Asian ibex (Capra sibirica). In both cases, the overlapping species do not usually interbreed in the wild, but in captivity, all Capra species can interbreed, producing fertile offspring.[8]
Species and subspecies
| Image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Capra sibirica | Asian ibex | Central & North Asia, Afghanistan, West and North China (mainly Xinjiang), NW India, SE Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, North Pakistan, South Russia, Tajikistan, East Uzbekistan. |
 |
Capra falconeri | Markhor | South Asia; the Karakoram and Himalaya ranges. |
 |
Capra hircus | Domestic goat | Cosmopolitan distribution; domesticated. |
 |
Capra aegagrus | Wild goat | Turkey, the Caucasus to Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan |
 |
Capra cylindricornis | East Caucasian tur | Greater Caucasus Mountains. |
 |
Capra caucasica | West Caucasian tur | Caucasus Mountains. |
 |
Capra ibex | Alpine ibex | Austria, Bavaria, France, Italy, Liechtenstein, Slovenia & Switzerland. |
 |
Capra pyrenaica | Iberian ibex | Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Pyrenees Mountains, Spain to Portugal. |
 |
Capra nubiana | Nubian ibex | Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.[9] |
 |
Capra walie | Walia ibex | Ethiopian Highlands & Simien Mountains. |
Domestication and uses
Main article: Domestic goat
Goats used for natural weed control
Ibex securely climbing rocky slope
Along with sheep, goats were among the first domesticated animals. The domestication process started at least 10,000 years ago in what is now northern Iran.[10] Easy human access to goat hair, meat, and milk were the primary motivations. Goat skins were popularly used until the Middle Ages for water and wine bottles when traveling and camping, and in certain regions as parchment for writing.
References
Parrini, F.; et al. (2009). "Capra ibex (Artiodactyla: Bovidae)". Mammalian Species. 830: 1–12. doi:10.1644/830.1.
Ansell, W. F. H. 1972. Order Artiodactyla. Part 15. Pp. 1–84, in The mammals of Africa: An identification manual (J. Meester and H. W. Setzer, eds.) [issued 2 May 1972]. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., not continuously paginated. (quoted in Grubb, P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-8221-4. OCLC 62265494.)
Haltenorth, T. 1963. Klassifikation der Säugetiere: Artiodactyla I. Handbuch der Zoologie, 8(32):1–167 (quoted in Grubb, P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-8221-4. OCLC 62265494.)
Nathalie Pidancier, Steve Jordan, Gordon Luikart, Pierre Taberlet: Evolutionary history of the genus Capra (Mammalia, Artiodactyla): Discordance between mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40 (2006) 739–749 online
Sarasa, M. (2023). "Common names of the Asiatic ibex superspecies at a turning point in its taxonomy and management". Animal Biodiversity and Conservation: 79–86. doi:10.32800/abc.2023.46.0079. ISSN 2014-928X. S2CID 257346317.
Sarasa, Mathieu; Alasaad, Samer; Pérez, Jesús M. (2012). "Common names of species, the curious case of Capra pyrenaica and the concomitant steps towards the 'wild-to-domestic' transformation of a flagship species and its vernacular names". Biodiversity and Conservation. 21 (1): 1–12. doi:10.1007/s10531-011-0172-3. ISSN 1572-9710. S2CID 254282784.
Phylogenetic Reconstructions in the Genus Capra (Bovidae, Artiodactyla) Based on the Mitochondrial DNA Analysis. Russian Journal of Genetics, 2007, Vol. 43, No. 2, pp. 181–189. online
V. G. Heptner: Mammals of the Sowjetunion Vol. I UNGULATES. Leiden, New York, 1989 ISBN 90-04-08874-1
Ross, S.; Elalqamy, H.; Al Said, T.; Saltz, D. "Capra nubiana". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T3796A22143385. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T3796A22143385.en.
Melinda A. Zeder, Brian Hesse: The Initial Domestication of Goats (Capra hircus) in the Zagros Mountains 10,000 Years Ago. Science 24 March 2000: Vol. 287. no. 5461, pp. 2254–2257 online abstract
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