Abstract:
Goats belong to the Bovidae family of hollow-horned ruminants, within the mammalian order of Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Their current taxonomic position is presented by Couturier (1962).
Class : Mammalia L. 1758
Infra-class : Eutheria Gill 1872
Order : Artiodactyla Owen 1848
Sub-order : Ruminantia Scopoli 1777
Family : Bovidae Gray 1821
Sub-family : Caprinae Gill 1872
Tribe : Caprini Simpson 1945
Genus : Capra L. 1758
Within the tribe Caprini there are five genera, Capra (goats and ibexes), Pseudois (Bharal sheep), Ammotragus (Barbary sheep), Hemitragus (tahr), and Ovis (sheep).
The specific taxonomy of the genus Capra is complex and often confused due to fertile hybrids obtainable from matings between "species", as outlined by Gray (1954). The popular classification was to divide the genus into six species:
C. aegagrus Erxleben 1777 (Bezoar)
C. ibex L. 1735 (Alpine Ibex)
C. falconeri Wagner 1848 (Markhor)
C. caucasica Pallas 1783 (Caucasian Tur)
C. pyrenaica Schinz 1838 (Spanish Ibex)
C. hircus L. 1758 (Domestic goat)
