Ancient genome analyses reveal mosaic pattern of goat domestication thousands of years ago

Goat domestication was a mosaic — not a singular — process, with capture from the wild impacting genetic diversity in different regions of the Fertile Crescent. These wild populations have left different genetic legacies in Asian, African and European populations today. Farmers were selecting specific traits in goats such as coat color and production ability as early as 8,000 years ago.