A myotonic goat, otherwise known as a fainting goat, is a domestic goat whose muscles freeze for roughly 10 seconds when the goat feels panic. Though painless, this generally results in the animal collapsing on its side. The characteristic is caused by a hereditary genetic disorder called myotonia congenita. When startled, younger goats will stiffen and fall over. Older goats learn to spread their legs or lean against something when startled, and often they continue to run about in an awkward, stiff-legged shuffle.
Read more about Fainting Goat: Characteristics, Molecular Basis For Myotonia in The Goats, Fainting Goat Festival
Famous quotes containing the words fainting and/or goat:
“My business is stanching blood and feeding fainting men; my post the open field between the bullet and the hospital. I sometimes discuss the application of a compress or a wisp of hay under a broken limb, but not the bearing and merits of a political movement. I make gruel—not speeches; I write letters home for wounded soldiers, not political addresses.”
—Clara Barton (1821–1912)
“My men, like satyrs grazing on the lawns,
Shall with their goat feet dance an antic hay.”
—Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)