I couldn’t get it out of my mind…like the time I heard that the Russian Cat Circus was performing in my city…I HAD to go and see those crazy Russian housecats perform tricks! Once I had heard that goats in Morocco climbed high up in trees, I was obsessed with the goats. My brain was focused on figuring out how and why they climbed the trees. Sure, mountain goats are definitely nimble, but climbing a mountain and climbing a tree seems totally different to me. How do they get up the treetrunk to the first branches - and beyond? Fast forward 1 week and I’m in a Grand Taxi leaving Essaouira early in the morning with a taxi driver who has told me he can take me to the fabled Moroccan goats that climb trees. This was no scam, in Morocco goats actually do climb trees - high up in the branches of Argan trees. Normally found in Southern Morocco, I was lucky enough to see them with my own eyes just outside of Essaouira. Argan trees are a thorny evergreen variety that grow in drought-ridden areas and are quite hearty. The Argan trees have fruits on them that the goats like to eat – actually, I think the goats are driven up into the trees in order to find food to graze on since it is so dry in these areas, the true definition of adaptation! If you want to see how goats climb trees, then go to southern Morocco and ask the locals to help you find them. Or just look closely at the Argan trees - you may just get lucky and spot one high up in the branches feasting on fruit!
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Goats in Trees
I couldn’t get it out of my mind…like the time I heard that the Russian Cat Circus was performing in my city…I HAD to go and see those crazy Russian housecats perform tricks! Once I had heard that goats in Morocco climbed high up in trees, I was obsessed with the goats. My brain was focused on figuring out how and why they climbed the trees. Sure, mountain goats are definitely nimble, but climbing a mountain and climbing a tree seems totally different to me. How do they get up the treetrunk to the first branches - and beyond? Fast forward 1 week and I’m in a Grand Taxi leaving Essaouira early in the morning with a taxi driver who has told me he can take me to the fabled Moroccan goats that climb trees. This was no scam, in Morocco goats actually do climb trees - high up in the branches of Argan trees. Normally found in Southern Morocco, I was lucky enough to see them with my own eyes just outside of Essaouira. Argan trees are a thorny evergreen variety that grow in drought-ridden areas and are quite hearty. The Argan trees have fruits on them that the goats like to eat – actually, I think the goats are driven up into the trees in order to find food to graze on since it is so dry in these areas, the true definition of adaptation! If you want to see how goats climb trees, then go to southern Morocco and ask the locals to help you find them. Or just look closely at the Argan trees - you may just get lucky and spot one high up in the branches feasting on fruit!
