Angora goat

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Angora
meat
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    45 kg (99 lbs)[3]
  • Female:
    35 kg (77 lbs)[3]
Height
  • Male:
    66 cm[3]
  • Female:
    51 cm[3]
Wool colourusually white; also black, brown or grey
  • Capra hircus

    • The Angora or Ankara

    Pygora in the United States.[4]
    : 358 

    History

    Nanny with kid

    The origin of the Angora is not known.[5]: 73  The earliest Western description may be that published in 1555 by Pierre Belon,[6]: 12  who while travelling from Heraclea to Konya in southern Turkey had seen goats with snow-white "... wool so delicate that one would judge it finer than silk ...".[7]: 296r 

    Angora goats were depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 50 lira banknote from 1938 to 1952.[8]

    In 1960 there were over 6 million Angora goats in Turkey; the population subsequently dropped sharply.

    conservation programme for the Angora was established in 2003.[4]
    : 357 

    Characteristics

    The goats are normally white, but may also be black, brown or grey

    The Angora is a moderately small goat, standing about 50 cm at the withers.[4]: 357  It is slender, elegant and light-framed;[3] the head is small, with semi-lop ears. It is usually horned; in billies the horns are commonly long, twisted and strong.[4]: 357  With the exception of the face and legs, the animal is entirely covered in a coat of long ringlets of fine and lustrous mohair.[3] This is not goat hair as seen on other breeds, but the down or undercoat which, in this breed only, grows much longer than the outer hair coat. The face and coat are normally white, but – particularly in southern Turkey – black, brown and grey animals also occur.[4]: 357 

    Use

    The goats are reared either for

    shearing; this is commonly done twice per year.[4]: 357  In 2010 approximately half of all mohair production was in South Africa; Argentina and Lesotho were also major producers, followed by the United States, Turkey, Australia and New Zealand.[10]
    : 8 

    In some other countries the Angora is reared for its meat, which is succulent and tender, and which in the early twentieth century was described as the best of its kind in the world.[4]: 357 

    See also

    Notes

    1. ^ Turkish: Ankara Keçisi or Tiftik-Keçisi[4]: 357 

    References

    Wikimedia Commons has media related to Angora goat.
    1. ISBN 9789251057629
      . Archived 23 June 2020.
    2. ^ Transboundary breed summary: Goat / Angora. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed July 2021.
    3. ^ a b c d e f Breed data sheet: Ankara / Turkey (Goat). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed July 2021.
    4. ^
      ISBN 9781780647944
      .
    5. ISBN 9781855735408
      , pages 68–132.
    6. ^ John L. Hayes (1868). The Angora Goat: Its Origin, Culture and Products. Boston: Museum of the Boston Society of Natural History.
    7. ^ Pierre Belon (1555). Les Observations de plusieurs singularitez et choses mémorables trouvées en Grèce, Asie, Judée, Égypte, Arabie et autres pays estranges, rédigées en trois livres, par Pierre Belon (in French). Anvers: chez Iean Steelsius à l'escu de Bourgoigne. "Les Cheures de ce pays portent la laine si deliée, qu'on la iugeroit estre plus fine que soye; aussi surpasse elle la neige en blancheur".
    8. ^ Fifty Turkish Lira, issue E2, series 1; issue E3, series 1; issue E3, series 2. Ankara: Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey / Türkiye Cumhuriyet Merkez Bankası. All archived February 2012.
    9. ISBN 9789251057629
      . Archived 10 January 2017.
    10. ^ [s.n.] (2011). A Profile of the South African Mohair Market Value Chain. Arcadia, Pretoria: Department of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries. Archived 30 December 2012.
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