Post #13918

Fainting goats: Any sneeze will knock them out. What is the purpose of this breed? The existence of fainting goats looks like another mockery of nature, something like “designer” breeds of dogs, doomed to suffer and doom their owners to torment. After all, every goat is essentially locked in a body that can stop obeying them at any second. But there must be a reason for such bullying, right? Fainting goats were the result of a natural genetic mutation that was then fixed by selective breeding. These goats were first documented in the 1880s in Tennessee, USA. A farmer named John Tinsley brought four goats to the region with an unusual property - they “frozen” and fell when frightened. The mutation occurred spontaneously and is caused by a recessive gene that affects muscle channels. An inherent feature of fainting goats is their congenital myotonia. With involuntary muscle movements (for example, caused by stress or fear), the muscles cannot recover and freeze in an unhealthy, spasmodic position for several tens of seconds. In this case, the goat freezes in unnatural positions, often with its legs spread out in all directions. Looks scary. But in reality, everything is far from so scary. Encephalograms show that when goats are constrained by a spasm, they do not experience pain, and adult animals do not even worry about this - they are used to it. The goat remains fully conscious - there is actually no fainting. For humans, goat myotonia is even beneficial. It not only has scientific interest, but is also simply convenient - even a small fence can stop goats. Ordinary goats are escape artists, and in this case their ability to jump is severely limited. In addition, the animals are distinguished by their great calmness and easy-going disposition, they easily make contact, quickly adapt to a poor diet and have good innate resistance to parasites. In general, these are ideal animals for private breeding and small farms located on not very fertile soils. And yet, this breed is on the verge of extinction. This is because meat production is increasingly monopolized: thanks to established technologies and advanced logistics, corporations can afford to raise meat goat breeds that produce a lot of high-quality meat. But we do not undertake to say whether this is good or bad. What do you think? Author: Yaroslav Ilyin 🏀 Hit the hoop and get an NFT gift — https://t.me/BasketbolX_bot