Bovidae in the context of Goats

Cattle (Bos taurus) are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus Bos. Mature female cattle are called cows and mature male cattle are bulls. Young female cattle are called heifers, young male cattle are bullocks, and castrated male cattle are known as oxen or steers.

Cattle are commonly raised for meat, for dairy products, and for leather. As draft animals, they pull carts and farm implements. Cattle are considered sacred animals within Hinduism, and it is illegal to kill them in some Indian states. Small breeds such as the miniature Zebu are kept as pets.

A roar /rɔːr/ is a type of animal vocalization that is loud, deep and resonating. Many mammals have evolved to produce roars and other roar-like vocals for purposes such as long-distance communication and intimidation. These include various species of big cats, bears, pinnipeds, deer, bovids, elephants, and simians.

The anatomical basis for the ability to roar often involves modifications to the larynx and hyoid bone and enlarged internal air spaces for low-frequency vocal resonation. While roaring, animals may stretch out their necks and elevate their heads to increase the space for resonance.

The goat or domestic goat (Capra hircus) is a species of goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (C. aegagrus) of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the family Bovidae, meaning it is closely related to the sheep. It was one of the first animals to be domesticated, in Iran around 10,000 years ago.

Goats have been used for milk, meat, wool, and skins across much of the world. Milk from goats is often turned into cheese. In 2022, there were more than 1.1 billion goats living in the world, of which 150 million were in India.

A horn is a permanent pointed projection on the head of various animals that consists of a covering of keratin and other proteins surrounding a core of live bone. Horns are distinct from antlers, which are not permanent. In mammals, true horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae (pronghorn) and Bovidae (cattle, goats, antelope etc.). Cattle horns arise from subcutaneous connective tissue (under the scalp) and later fuse to the underlying frontal bone.

One pair of horns is usual; however, two or more pairs occur in a few wild species and in some domesticated breeds of sheep. Polycerate (multi-horned) sheep breeds include the Hebridean, Icelandic, Jacob, Manx Loaghtan, and the Navajo-Churro.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) or hoof-and-mouth disease (HMD) is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that primarily affects even-toed ungulates, including domestic and wild bovids. The virus causes a high fever lasting two to six days, followed by blisters inside the mouth and near the hoof that may rupture and cause lameness.

FMD has very severe implications for animal farming, since it is highly infectious and can be spread by infected animals comparatively easily through contact with contaminated farming equipment, vehicles, clothing, and feed, and by domestic and wild predators. Its containment demands considerable efforts in vaccination, strict monitoring, trade restrictions, quarantines, and the culling of both infected and healthy (uninfected) animals.

Ovis is a genus of mammals, part of the Caprinae subfamily of the ruminant family Bovidae. Its seven species are highly sociable, and are known as sheep or ovines. Domestic sheep are members of the genus, and are thought to be descended from the wild mouflon of central and southwest Asia.

The gaur (Bos gaurus; /ɡaʊər/), also known as the Indian bison, is a large bovine native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 mature individuals in 2016, with the majority of those existing in India.It is the largest species among the wild cattle and the Bovidae.

The domesticated gayal or mithun originated partly from the wild gaur and is most common in the border regions of Northeast India (Assam, Manipur, Nagaland) and Bangladesh with Myanmar and Yunnan, China.

Musk deer can refer to any one, or all eight, of the species that make up Moschus, the only extant genus of the family Moschidae. Despite being commonly called deer, they are not true deer belonging to the family Cervidae, but rather their family is closely related to Bovidae, the group that contains antelopes, bovines, sheep, and goats. The musk deer family differs from cervids, or true deer, by lacking antlers and preorbital glands also, possessing only a single pair of teats, a gallbladder, a caudal gland, a pair of canine tusks and—of particular economic importance to humans—a musk gland.

Musk deer live mainly in forested and alpine scrub habitats in the mountains of South Asia, notably the Himalayas. They are entirely Asian in their present distribution, being extinct in Europe where the earliest musk deer are known to have existed from Oligocene deposits.

Cheek teeth or postcanines comprise the molar and premolar teeth in mammals. Cheek teeth are multicuspidate (having many folds or tubercles). Mammals have multicuspidate molars (three in placentals, four in marsupials, in each jaw quadrant) and premolars situated between canines and molars whose shape and number varies considerably among particular groups. For example, many modern Carnivora possess carnassials, or secodont teeth. This scissor-like pairing of the last upper premolar and first lower molar is adapted for shearing meat. In contrast, the cheek teeth of deer and cattle are selenodont. Viewed from the side, these teeth have a series of triangular cusps or ridges, enabling the ruminants' sideways jaw motions to break down tough vegetable matter. Cheek teeth are sometimes separated from the incisors by a gap called a diastema.

Cheek teeth in reptiles are much simpler as compared to mammals.

The subfamily Caprinae, also sometimes referred to as the tribe Caprini, is part of the ruminant family Bovidae, and consists of mostly medium-sized bovids. A member of this subfamily is called a caprine.

Prominent members include sheep and goats, with some other members referred to as goat antelopes. Some earlier taxonomies considered Caprinae a separate family called Capridae (with the members being caprids), but now it is usually considered either a subfamily within the Bovidae, or a tribe within the subfamily Antilopinae of the family Bovidae, with caprines being a type of bovid.

The term antelope refers to numerous extant or recently extinct species of the ruminant artiodactyl family Bovidae that are indigenous to most of Africa, India, the Middle East, Central Asia, and a small area of Russia. Antelopes do not form a monophyletic group, as some antelopes are more closely related to other bovid groups, such as bovines, goats, and sheep, than to other antelopes.

A stricter grouping, known as the true antelopes, includes only the genera Gazella, Nanger, Eudorcas, and Antilope. One North American mammal, the pronghorn or "pronghorn antelope", is colloquially referred to as the "American antelope", despite the fact that it belongs to a completely different family (Antilocapridae) than the true Old-World antelopes; pronghorn are the sole extant member of a lineage that once included many species which went extinct in the prehistoric period.