The wild goats Capra aegagrus Erxleben, 1777 of the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Atlantic Ocean islands

Abstract

ABSTRACT Populations of wild goats that can be referred to as phenotypes of the pasang, or Bezoar goat, or wild goat Capra aegagrus Erxleben, 1777, still occur on several of the Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic islands. Other populations became extinct not many decades ago. Fossil evidence for the natural spread of the wild goat to any of these islands has not been found. Originating in the Near East, the region of its natural range and its earliest domestication, the species was introduced by humans onto the Mediterranean islands starting as early as the Pre‐Pottery Neolithic. The islands of the Eastern Atlantic were colonized artificially by animals of ‘pre‐Hispanic’ origin. The principal phenotypes expressed by all these populations of goats can be matched with the characteristics of both C. a. aegagrus Erxleben, 1777 (aegagrus phenotype) and C. a. dorcas Reichenow, 1888 (dorcas phenotype). Most of these animals currently survive on the islands without being fed by humans, and should be protected.