Origins of the Pygmy Goat
Dwarf goats are
distributed over a very large area of equatorial Africa from
the south of the Senegal through Central Africa to Southern
Sudan.
Two types of dwarfism
occur in goats in Africa. These are achondroplasia
which results in a goat with disproportionally short legs,
plump body and short head and pituitary hypoplasia
giving a small but normally proportioned goat. The first of
these types is typical of the West African dwarf goat found
in the Guinean zone of West Africa. The slender, normally
proportioned goat of the second type is found in the
Southern Sudan region. These two types represent the
extremes, with many intermediate types in existence.
The height to withers
for both types is given as 40cms to 50cms (approx’ 16” to
20”)The bodyweight of the
West African type ranging from 44lbs to 55lbs and the
Southern Sudan type from 24lbs to 55lbs. All colours and
combinations of colours are said to occur in both types.
The Pygmy Goat Club in
Britain does not differentiate between the types. Upon its
formation in 1982 it discarded the regional names in general
use, such as Nigerian, Cameroonian, Nilotic, Sudanese, West
African etc in favour of the general term of Pygmy Goat.
It is clear that the Pygmy Goat in Great Britain owes more
to the West African dwarf than it does to the dwarf goat of
Southern Sudan. It seems likely that ‘our’ Pygmy Goat is
not the extreme form of achondroplastic origin, but a
transitional type of more pleasing appearance.
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