Adaptation to life in the desert

This book is about goats and other ruminants living in extreme deserts. Goats have served as a most important element in the economy of humankind, throughout the subtropical dry regions of the world. In the harsh desert climate, where water and food are too scarce for raising cattle or even sheep, the goat became the dominant companion of man. Watching herds of black goats on barren hillsides, fully exposed to the merciless sun, foraging on dry shrubs, far away from any water source, with their black fur and skin, yielding big quantitties of milk, we have descied to look into the physiological adaptations of these goats to their life in the desert. We discuss water economy, dehydration and rehydration, blood and kidney function, energy metabolism and digestive efficiency, as well as thermoregulation, selective brain cooling, heat balance and milk production, which became the main topics of this book. (Quoted from the abstract).