Vid link

[wesleysgirl]

Okay, I feel a little bit bad for posting this, because it seems kind of mean, but check out these fainting goats. Apparently, they're genetically bred to have their muscles lock up when they're startled, so if you scare them, they freeze up and fall over. It seems cruel to laugh at them, but I couldn't help it.

Comments

[piplover.livejournal.com]

Mike Rowe on Dirty Jobs on Discovery did a job with the goats. It was funny watching them try to make the goats faint, and all they did was run away. Apparently, they faint when they get really excited, too, lol.

[tir-nan-og.livejournal.com]

Why were they bred to do that?!

[settiai]

It's a genetic disorder that was discovered back in the 1800s in Tennessee. There really aren't that many people around who raise them, but the few who do gain some notoriety because of it ... which is why they keep breeding them.

[kimberly-a.livejournal.com]

Why in the world would someone breed goats for this particular abnormality? Perhaps it's a side-effect of something else they were breeding for.

[settiai]

The main reason that people breed fainting goats nowadays is because of the oddity of it and the notoriety it brings them. I live in the Tennessee county where the goats were first discovered, so there are quite a few people who raise them around here. They get quite a bit of attention from the media at certain times of the year, and you'd be surprised at the number of people who travel here just to see them.

[entrenous88.livejournal.com]

I love the fainting goats! For some reason my friend R. was just fascinated with them about two years ago, and he sent me all kinds of links so we could watch clips and giggle at them. I don't feel tooooo bad laughing, because it's mixed with a lot of "Awwwww!" They're so cute! *gets them all goat-snackies*

[ely-jan.livejournal.com]

Hee! My granddad had some of those and my brother and I would just sneak up on them for hours. It's a defense mechanism that I've never quite understood.

[settiai]

Believe it or not, those goats were first discovered in my home county. See? Marshall County, Tennessee. There are a lot of them around here because of that, and they're absolutely adoreable in real life.

[mythologian.livejournal.com]

dude you think those guys are funny, go to youtube.com and type in a search for 'narcoleptic dog' ... I wanted to laugh (and I did), but at the same time you feel so bad for the poor dear.