Historical interest in goats

Goats are an important agricultural species worldwide and have been throughout history, and because of their central role in many farming situations they have monitored and studied from a variety of perspectives. 

Goats and cancer studies

It has long been known that goats can develop adrenocortical neoplasms.  It has been proposed that goats may be a suitable model system for studies of melanoma. As with other larger animal species, studying the incidence and treatment strategies for cancers in goats may offer useful paradigms for human situations.

Although not as advanced as genome projects on other species, there are mapping and sequencing projects associated with goats that will shed increasing light on useful comparative aspects of their biology.