Say what you want to about humans interfering with nature, if we weren't that meddlesome, some things just wouldn't be. My own personal favorite: the famous Tennessee Fainting Goats.
These are a very special breed of goat. When they are startled, or excited, all their muscles lock up, and then they collapse in a heap. Like in this video:
Apparently, the reason why this gene didn't just get eliminated through the process of natural selection was that herders used to insert a few of these goats into a flock of more valuable sheep. The reason? Well, think of what happens when a predator starts chasing the flock, and you get the idea.
So they had their value to man, and thus the gene survived, to give us funny videos nowadays.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Tennessee Fainting Goats
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2 comments:
That's wild. I don't believe it. You are sure somebody didn't just make it up?
I'm quite certain. There was even a Discovery Channel special that included a bit on these goats (they call them "myotonic goats") some time ago.
Apparently, besides the "predator magnet" feature, they are also meatier and less prone to climbing and escaping, so they do have some monetary value.
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