Ereth Goat
Mountain rescue goats
The area around Frosthollow and the Frozen Keep is rough and mountainous, filled with high cliffs and icy crevasses. Whilst the city is highly defensible, travel and trade have always been difficult and dangerous. In 4332 EA, the then High Lord Ereth, Robert, an avid animal lover, started to fund the breeding of several species to help the city. The Ereth goat was one of these.
Bred for speed and agility, the Ereth goats play a crucial role in rescuing travellers who have fallen down cliffs. They are able to traverse up and down sheer rock faces with ease, and are able to reach even the trickiest locations. Trained to carry crucial supplies and ropes down to stricken travellers, they enable people to survive what appear to be the most hopeless situations.
Anatomy
by Jo Naylor
Ereth goats are cloven-hooved, quadropedal mammals. Their bodies are covered in white fur with light tan patches, with shorter fur around their face. Regardless of sex, they have fluffy white beards. They have short fluffy tails, which some scholars believe aid them with balance.
Both males and females have light brown horns; male horns are larger and curved, whilst female horns are short and straight. These horns are made of living bone with a keratin coating.
As goats are prey animals, they have two eyes on the sides of their head. The irises are light amber in colour, and they have horizontal slit-shaped pupils. These give the Ereth goat excellent peripheral vision; they are able to see behind themselves without turning their heads. This also means that they have relatively good depth perception, which aids them in traversing the mountain slopes.
Their hooves, made of keratin, are small and compact, allowing them to more easily stand on narrow ledges. Each hoof is quite sharp, with hard edges surrounding rough pads that allow them to more easily grip rock and ice.
Habitat
Ereth goats are only found in the land immediately around the city of Frosthollow. No wild Ereth goats exist, as all individuals are domesticated and were selectively bred in captivity. It is illegal to trade them outside of the city, as they are protected by the High Lord.Diet
Ereth goats forage for vegetation around their home. They browse on woody shrubbery, lichen, and weeds, as well as root vegetables fed to them by their handler. Like other goats, Ereth goats are ruminants, meaning that they have a multi-chambered stomach. This helps them to digest the tough, fibrous vegetation that makes up their diet.Behaviour
When they are young, Ereth goats display what appears to be a reckless disregard for their own safety, leaping down dangerous ledges with abandon. Though this is quite alarming to onlookers, this building of confidence is essential for their later work in mountain rescue. Ereth goats are extremely smart; when they are not working, their handlers often create elaborate puzzles for them to solve. They spend a lot of their time working with their handlers on different rescue scenarios in order to prepare for the real thing, and enjoy being rewarded with food. By the time they reach five years old, they are highly-trained. Goats are loyal to one handler, forming a close bond. This can prove problematic in the event of a handler's death, in which case another handler has to work extremely hard to gain the goat's trust. When they are not working, they can be quite mischievous and curious. It is not unheard of for goats to break into houses to raid the kitchen or to sleep in a comfortable bed.
by Simon Fitall
Look at those cute rescuers! No wonder they put them in a children's book :p
Thanks! Hopefully I'll actually finish this article during this month! XD