FEEDING PREFERENCES OF GOATS, CAPRA-HIRCUS, FOR DIFFERENT MOPANE PLANT-PARTS

We describe the feeding preferences goats showed for four different pa rts of Colophospermum mopane. The animals were offered green mopane le aves, senescing mopane leaves, green developing pods, and dry pods. Th e number of acceptances and of rejections of each of the plant parts w as recorded. The results are discussed with reference to the feeding b iology of goats and comparisons are drawn in terms of the chemical com position of the leaves offered. The purpose of the present investigati on was to further our understanding of the utilisation of mopane by go ats, and to test whether these animals might serve as monitors of brow se quality, their preferences reportedly being for food items having l ittle fibre and few condensed tannins. Our observations of how goats s elect mopane plant parts allows for some extrapolation as to possible relationships between another browsing ruminant, the impala, and mopan e and the implications for the survival of the species.