All about Sheep and Goats

WHAT IS a sheep? What is a goat? Are they the same species or just very similar? Sheep and
goats are closely related and even look much alike. Both were among the first animals to be
domesticated and used for their food and fiber. Yet, some major differences exist. A sheep is
usually heavier than a goat and has wool as its coat. A goat has a beard and a strong odor.
Are sheep and goats the same?

 Sheep and goats are often not differentiated from one another.

 Some languages do not have different words for sheep and goat(s).

 The media frequently misidentifies sheep and goats.

 Statistics for sheep and goats are often combined.

 Sheep and goats have many similarities, but also many differences.

Differences: physical
Sheep
 Most sheep are polled.

 Horns are curvier

 Sometimes have a mane

 Split upper lip  Face or tear glands

 Foot or scent glands between toes.

 Deposit fat externally (except hair sheep)

 Heavier muscled  faster growing

Goats
 Most goats have horns.

 Horns are straighter and narrower

 Sometimes have a beard

 More agile

 Deposit fat internally (around organs).

 Lighter muscled

 Slower growing
Similarities
Sheep and goats are closely related. Both are in the same subfamily, Caprinae, and it is sometimes difficult
to tell if a specific breed or strain is a goat or a sheep. Both sheep and goats were considered multi-
purpose animals, as they provided not only flesh and milk but also dung for fires, skins and fiber or wool.

Classification of Sheep and Goat:

Simple linear classifier
Nearest neighbor classifier
Decision tree classifier
Naïve Bayes classifier

Simple linear classifier:

In simple linear classifier we classify the elements or objects based on their
distinguish properties. A simple linear classifier does classification decision based on the
value of a linear combination of the characteristics. Imagine that the linear classifier will merge
into its weights all the characteristics that define a particular class.
In the scenario of sheep and goat, if we take some of their properties we can easily
classify their classes.
Properties Sheep Goat
Weight 45 -160 Kg 20-140 Kg
Height 120 cm 100 cm
Colour Mostly White Different colour
Horn Curved Straight
Tail Down-ward Up-ward

Nearest Neighbor Classifier:

We can visualize the nearest neighbor algorithm in terms of a decision surface…
Note the we do not actually have to construct these surfaces; they are simply the
implicit boundaries that divide the space into regions “belonging” to each instance.
Decision Tree Classifier:
• Decision tree
– A flow-chart-like tree structure
– Internal node denotes a test on an attribute
– Branch represents an outcome of the test
– Leaf nodes represent class labels or class distribution
• Decision tree generation consists of two phases
– Tree construction
• At start, all the training examples are at the root
• Partition examples recursively based on selected attributes
– Tree pruning
• Identify and remove branches that reflect noise or outliers
• Use of decision tree: Classifying an unknown sample
– Test the attribute values of the sample against the decision tree