West African Dwarf goats

Picture taken in Odense, Denmark 

The West African Dwarf is a large and variable breed or group of breeds of domestic goat from coastal West and Central Africa, a range extending approximately from Senegal to Zaire. It is characterised by achondroplasia or dwarfism, a trait that may have evolved in response to conditions in the humid forests of the area, and also by some degree of resistance to tsetse-borne trypanosomiasis or "sleeping-sickness".

There are many regional strains or breeds within the group; other names for the group as a whole include African Dwarf, Djallonké or Fouta Jallon, Grassland Dwarf or Chèvre Naine des Savanes, Guinean or Guinean Dwarf, Forest Goat and Pygmy.

In Aquariums and Zoos: common in Europe (often the animal childen are allowed to pet)