# A few questions about fainting goats **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 25, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-questions-about-fainting-goats/271113 "2004-10-25T20:41:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-questions-about-fainting-goats/271113/1 "2004-10-25T20:41:47Z")
I’ve found lots of information on these creatures, but I can’t seem to find the answers to these questions: How long do fainting goats stay in their “faint?” Do they stay startled or re-startle if a lot of frightening noise is going on around them? Do they attack, and if so, how? (This is for a book; I’m not thinking of getting one.) Thanks for any information you can provide. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-questions-about-fainting-goats/271113/2 "2004-10-25T20:51:21Z")
Sorry I can’t help with the answers, most of my knowledge comes from [here](http://www.faintinggoat.com/). I am fascinated by them, and would love to have one as a pet, had we the room. Of course, I’d also like a ninja, so my endorsement of the fainting goat isn’t worth much. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-questions-about-fainting-goats/271113/3 "2004-10-25T20:58:29Z")
> [@picker](#): > > Of course, I’d also like a ninja, so my endorsement of the fainting goat isn’t worth much. Well, yeah, but who doesn’t? Thanks for the link. I’ve emailed them, so I’ll see if they can get me a response. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-questions-about-fainting-goats/271113/4 "2004-10-25T21:06:38Z")
[This guy](http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jimknapp/goats.html) seems pretty knowledgeable too - he’s a law student at Michigan, and his step father raises them as pets. He goat-sits for them, and runs that page for fainting goat aficionados like ourselves. Now if you’re looking for ninjas, on the other hand, there is only [one source that matters](http://www.realultimatepower.net). ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-questions-about-fainting-goats/271113/5 "2004-10-25T21:09:14Z")
These are real? How in the world did something like this survive the evolutionary pitfalls? I’d imagine they’d get pretty dusty around July the 4th and New Years. ---
**Author:** ![quothz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/da6949/32.png) [@quothz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quothz)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-questions-about-fainting-goats/271113/6 "2004-10-26T02:36:39Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > These are real? How in the world did something like this survive the evolutionary pitfalls? I can’t speak for fainting goats, but there’s a number of mammals that have similar reactions. The opossum is one of the better-known examples (although opossums don’t always do this; sometimes they flee. I’ve no idea how universal the fainting goat’s reaction is). It’s a survival trait, believe it or not, in a couple of ways. First, not moving makes prey harder to find and recognize. A natural inclination toward freezing when startled means that, if not already spotted, they’re less likely to be. Second, many predators’ll skip over apparantly dead-but-uninjured prey, to avoid disease (unless the predator is awfully hungry). ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-questions-about-fainting-goats/271113/7 "2004-10-26T03:01:51Z")
[I wondered this.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=261560) The more I found out the less sense they made to me. So I moved on. There is one argument that they are the final proof of the nonexistence of God. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-questions-about-fainting-goats/271113/8 "2004-10-26T05:08:20Z")
Strange. I searched for fainting goats and didn’t find anything. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-questions-about-fainting-goats/271113/9 "2004-10-26T11:41:45Z")
> [@DeadlyAccurate](#): > > Strange. I searched for fainting goats and didn’t find anything. Duh! You gotta be more quiet! They were probably all passed out in the tall grass when you came around! ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-questions-about-fainting-goats/271113/10 "2004-10-26T14:43:09Z")
I love fainting goats. They’re just all kinds of entertaining, and would love to… Have a NINJA FAINTING GOAT!! What a cool idea… Except I guess if they were afraid of heights, they’d fall off a lot of roofs. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-questions-about-fainting-goats/271113/11 "2004-10-26T23:55:57Z")
Got a response about fainting goats: > [@](#): > > They stay startled for less than 1/2 minute, generally. Not much longer than that. It will be awhile before they faint again. I would say at least an hour or more. I forgot to ask if they bite, but I did see one website that mentioned having to give away one of theirs because it would walk up and bite people (out of the blue). I assume that some of them would be aggressive if cornered.