The Secret Social Life of Goats

In this episode, we explore the surprisingly complex inner world of goat behavior, where bleats carry meaning, body language sets the tone, and who gets the feed bowl might come down to subtle social cues. Did you know goats have eight distinct emotional vocalizations? Even more fascinating, they can interpret the expressions on our human faces, picking up on whether we’re smiling or frowning, and responding accordingly.

We dig into current research on how goats interact with humans and each other, including a deep dive into the VOCAPRA project, which uses neural networks to classify goat vocalizations and deliver real-time emotional feedback to farmers. We also examine how selective breeding may influence a goat's behavior, with evidence that dwarf goats tend to be more adaptable than high-production dairy lines.

Whether you’re raising goats on a farm or just curious about what’s going on behind those sideways eyes, this episode is full of insights into how goats think, feel, and relate to the world around them.

It’s goat science with a social twist!

Articles for this episode:

• Celozzi, S., Battini, M., Prato-Previde, E., & Mattiello, S. (2022). Humans and Goats: Improving Knowledge for a Better Relationship. Animals, 12(6), 774. doi: 10.3390/ani12060774
• Minnig, A., Zufferey, R., Thomann, B., Zwygart, S., Keil, N., Schüpbach-Regula, G., Miserez, R., Stucki, D., & Zanolari, P. (2021). Animal-Based Indicators for On-Farm Welfare Assessment in Goats. Animals, 11(11), 3138. doi: 10.3390/ani11113138• Nawroth, C. (2017).
• Invited review: Socio-cognitive capacities of goats and their impact on human-animal interactions. Small Ruminant Research, 150, 70–75. doi: 10.1016/j.smallrumres.2017.03.005
• Nawroth, C., Rosenberger, K., Keil, N. M., & Langbein, J. (2022). Goats (Capra hircus) From Different Selection Lines Differ in Their Behavioural Flexibility. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 796464. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.796464
• Ntalampiras, S., & Gamacchio, G. P. (2025). Explainable classification of goat vocalizations using convolutional neural networks. PLoS One, 20(4), e0318543. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0318543•
• Shackleton, D. M., & Shank, C. C. (1984). A Review of the Social Behavior of Feral and Wild Sheep and Goats. Journal of Animal Science, 58(2), 500–509. doi: 10.2527/jas1984.582500x
• Barroso, F. G., Alados, C. L., & Boza, J. (2000). Social hierarchy in the domestic goat: effect on food habits and production. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 69(1), 35–53. doi: 10.1016/s0168-1591(00)00113-1

A NotebookLM deep dive human written to help you make goat science make sense.