Friday, April 15, 2011

Drop Dead Goats



Imagine you are on a farm.  You see a goat running towards you as fast as it possibly could.  You start to think "Oh My Gosh this goat is going to attack me!!", when all of a sudden, the goat just falls over and seems to be paralyzed.  No, the goat did not faint because it was it was afraid of you.  Goats that exhibit this strange behavior, known as fainting goats, are known to faint at the most random of times.  The cause for this unusual behavior is a genetic condition called myotonia congenita.

Myotonia congenita is a genetic condition that caused the goats muscles to faint when startled.  This condition is caused when the CLCN1 gene is mutated.  This gene controls muscle and bone development.  When this gene mutates, it causes muscles to contract more frequently than normal.  This condition can also affect humans, in which case they can take medicine to shorten the contractions.

Despite the name, fainting goats do not actually faint.  When an animal faints, it loses consciousness.  The goat just simply collapses.  Although it remains conscious, it looses all sensation. 

Animals have developed strange tendencies, whether by choice or by disorder.  It is one of the things that makes the animal kingdom unique.  It usually remains untempered with and is allowed to change by itself, whether for better of for worse.  I believe that we shouldn't attempt to change anything in nature, no matter how unusual.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fainting_goat

For a video click here.

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