 Billy atFive Sisters Zoo, inWest Lothian | |
| Conservation status | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Pygmy Goat |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Standard | Pygmy Goat Club |
| Traits | |
| Height |
|
| Horn status | may be horned in both sexes |
| Beard | males heavily bearded |
| |
ThePygmy is a Britishbreed of dwarfgoat. It is small, compact and generally stockily built. It was established in the 1980s by fusion of the various miniature goat populations of the United Kingdom into a single breed. These were of two principal types: a stockyachondroplastic type derived from theWest African Dwarf group of breeds of West Africa; and a small but well-proportioned type derived from the Southern Sudan goat.[3]: 402
Small goats were brought from Africa to the United Kingdom in the nineteenth century to be exhibited in zoos.[4]: 182 Some of these came into the hands of private breeders, who kept and bred them ascompanion animals.[3]: 402 Among these there were two principal types: a broad, short-legged, compact and solidachondroplastic type, oftenblue roan in colour, derived from theWest African Dwarf group of breeds of West Africa; and a small but well-proportioned type derived from the Southern Sudan goat.[3]: 402 Regardless of their actual origins, the former was known as the 'Cameroon' and the latter as the 'Nigerian'.[3]: 402
In 1982 the varying types were merged into a single breed. Abreed society – the Pygmy Goat Club – was formed,[3]: 403 and aherd-book started. The breed society is not among those approved by theDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to operate a herd-book.[5]
In 2018 a population of2316 head was reported to theDAD-IS breed database of theFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. In 2019 theconservation status of the Pygmy was listed there as "at risk";[2] it was not on the goat watchlist of theRare Breeds Survival Trust.[6]
The Pygmy is reared forshow or as acompanion animal.[3]: 403
