Modern goats carry genes borrowed from wild species. By Elizabeth PennisiGoats are one tough breed, surviving Atlantic Ocean crossings with Christopher Columbus and the Mayflower’s pilgrims—and tolerating everyday perils from drought to parasites.
Now, research has uncovered the origins of their hardiness: Some ancient hanky panky with a wild goat cousin gave the domesticated species (Capra aegagrus hircus) a gene that protects against parasitic worm infections.
That gene joined others to help make goats among the first animals to be domesticated.The finding underscores the importance of interbreeding with wild populations in the early days of domestication, says Melinda Zeder, an emeritus anthropological archaeologist at the Smithsonian