Eva Iofe Week 4: the Cold-Blooded GOAT


Did you know that there was such a thing as a cold-blooded mammal? Also known as the Myotragus GOAT (quite possibly the actual greatest of all time, hah), it was a small goat that managed to survive in a harsh environment by changing from a regular goat's warm-blood to its unique mammalian cold-blood, as well as shrinking to a mere 19 inches. While the Myotragus' cold-blood left scientists befuddled in the past, researchers today believe that it resulted from adaptations to the barren environment of the Majorca, with little food and no way to get off of the Spanis island.

Though the Myotragas' skeleton could be compared to a regular goats skeletal system, there were clear signs in fossils that their growth had been halted. I believe that the reason that the Myotragus' stopped growing was so that they could accommodate for the lack of resources (that of which included food), and eventually their bone structure adapted to their environment (thogh a significant lack of predators helped as well). Scientists have also found many similarities between the Myotragus' and reptiles, including flexibility and the behaviours displayed. The reptile that the Myotragus reminded scientists of was a crocodile. The fact that a goat and a crocodile could be similar in any regard shocked me, especially when I found out that researchers found similarities in the bone-growth and habits of the two animals. Because Majorca is an island in Spain, the sun beats down on it’s shores quite often. Instead of using the scarce food available as a source of energy, the Myotragus goats found other ways to achieve survival, just like any other reptile, even the crocodile.

If humans ere not the ones to drive the Myotragus goats to extinction, do you think the two speices could have gotten along?

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