I’m sure most of you have seen the video by now. Essentially, a bunch of goats yell exactly like humans.
Everyone who has shown me this attests that goats do indeed make these noises. My goat experience is limited to petting farms, so I can’t confirm firsthand. Are these noises real? What is the range of goat vocalization? Are there any more authoritative sites I can visit that confirm or deny the video?
Yaaaaahhhh they can. I grew up with pet goats and farm goats. They can make a wide range of sounds and some of those sound oddly human. I watched the video and they all seemed legitimate to me except possibly the second one. It could be real too but I just have never heard a got make that particular sound. The rest of them sound just like goats I have heard personally.
If you want to really be convinced, you need to find someone with some goats and play with them. Most of them make sounds like that. I always say any afternoon is a good one if you have goats to hang out with.
They can, but apparently some of those in the video are sheep.
Which means that sheep can also make those sounds. For some reason, I find that more terrifying and more amusing than goats.
"I’m sure most of you have seen the video by now. "
Why would you think that?
It’s been pushed by late night talk shows, such as Jimmy Kimmel.
This video is approaching 8 million views on youtube alone. Not to mention the broadcast audience. I think it is safe to assume a lot of people have seen it. Do you disagree? I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic here, or what your point is.
Off topic, my rule of sharing a video is to check the views.
Views < 500,000 Share it
Views > 500,000 Don’t share it
those kids can make noise.
Those are funny goats!
Whose Jimmy Kimmel? I’m kidding, I’ve heard of him. A pureyor of the semi-oxymoronic’entertainment news’
As there are over 300,000,000 people in the US alone and this board and YouTube are world wide features I’d say 8 million views is an indicator this hasn’t reached most of everybody
Okay. Internet point goes to you. Did you have anything to contribute to the question?
I’m not sure why this matters so much to you.
I’ve never met a goat, but coworkers who owned them as kids say this isn’t unusual for goats.
That one Italian goat was really pissed off.
Seconded. Goats are affectionate and amusing, unlike sheep, who tend to be unfriendly and boring. But they do typically have human-like voices, although not all as human-like as the ones in the video (and I’ve never heard goats shriek, so I also question the authenticity of the ones that shriek in the video).
And of course there are the fainting goats, that are simultaneously unsettling and hilarious.
‘hero’ my contribution was that posters should realize that even on internet discussion boards, one should not make unsupported assumptions about the rest of the people on the board.
A second contribution might be to illustrate that ordinary queries are not necessarily sarcastic and that the point of a question is to obtain an answer that hopefully is reasonable.
As for “safe to assume”, proof of 8 million participants in a population of 7 billion does not make it safe to assume most people have participated. As for this board alone, it is alleged that this is an “intelligent” group. I went with the assumption that most intelligent people are not that interested in watching a video of goats vocalizing. Could be wrong, but…
This gives me the perfect opportunity to post this:
Taylor Swift - I Knew You Were Trouble - Goat Edition
Ok so it’s technically a sheep, but I laughed so hard I had tears.
Leave it to the SDMB to criticize and pick apart those assumptions. I consider myself an intelligent person, I’m intelligent enough to realize that I can learn from anything, whether it’s significant or mundane.
Goats sound like this. So do sheep. They don’t make noise for no reason. You are listening to anxiety in caprine and ovine form. Despite all the human laughter in the background, I didn’t find it amusing.
Also, you may as accurately ask, do humans make sounds resembling the cries of anxious goats?
Absolutely. I have met a few people that mimic goats rather than vice-versa. Pro-tip: Hang out with the goat. They are way more cool than the people that sound like them.
I miss my pet goat William that I had when I was 6. He was the coolest pet I ever had although he was not really that attractive even by goat standards. He was a simple brown billy goat but he had a great personality and personality goes a long way. He loved sitting the couch while watching the Dukes of Hazzard with me while he ate popcorn out of the bag. That was the best buddy you can ever hope for.
What I’m confused about is why this is only hitting the internet in 2013.
In a perfect world, the internet would have started with this video.
Edit: I’m also amused at Shagnasty’s suggestion that goats have standards.
Yes, to the OP. And Peacocks also tend to sound like hysterical women. Or…the other way around.
So we, uh, probably shouldn’t link to hilarious videos of startled crying babies, then? 
I’ll be over here in this handbasket…