Meet the tree-climbing goats of Morocco
- Published
This goat is munching away but where do you think it is?
It's on top of a tree! In places like the south west of Morocco, North Africa, where the plants and trees are far apart and fewer, goats use their climbing skills to find their food.
Here the animals have climbed up an argan tree to get to the fresh fruit at the top. They can climb an impressive 8-10 metres to do this. Herders often help the younger goats learn how to climb.
The fruit doesn't just fill them up - scientists from Spain have been looking into how it also helps spread the nuts that are found inside the fruit. These are usually around 2 cm long and 1.5 cm wide.
They found that once the goats have eaten the fruit they spit out the nuts later in the day, wherever they are. This helps the seeds spread to other locations where a new plant can grow.
Before it was thought the nuts mainly passed out of the goats through their poo but this latest research shows most of it is spit out instead.
The nuts are also crushed by local workers to produce oil which is sold around world. The oil is used in cooking as well as beauty products. So the climbing skills of these goats have many uses!
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