Morocco's Climbing Goats
Goats on trees are found mostly only in Morocco. The goats climb them
because they like to eat the fruit of the argan tree, which is similar
to an olive. Farmers actually follow the herds of goats as they move
from tree to tree. Not because it is so strange to see goats in trees
and the farmers like to point and stare, but because the fruit of the
tree has a nut inside, which the goats can't digest, so they spit it up
or excrete it which the farmers collect. The nut contains 1-3 kernels,
which can be ground to make argan oil used in cooking and cosmetics.
This oil has been collected by the people of the region for hundreds of
years, but like many wild and useful things these days, the argan tree
is slowly disappearing due to over-harvesting for the tree's wood and
overgrazing by goats.
As a result a group of people and organizations have banded together to
try to save the tree. To do so one of the primary locations where the
trees grow has been declared a biosphere preserve. It was also decided
that by making the world aware of the oil, it's great taste and supposed
anti-aging properties, would create a demand for it. However, the
people who planned to market the oil could not envision people wanting
to put an oil on their food or their face that was collected from goat
excrement. As a result, a campaign is being led to ban grazing on the
trees by goats during certain parts of the year to allow the fruit to
ripen and fall off on its own. The fruit is then collected and turned
into oil by oil cooperatives. So far, this arrangement seems to be
working.
(Photo: Remo Saviaar)
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