Osteometric study of the Rasquera White Goat

Abstract

An osteometric study was carried out on the skulls of 70 adult female goats belonging to the Rasquera White (Blanca de Rasquera) breed. A total of thirty eight linear measurements and 11 indices or ratios were analyzed. This study provided a statistical insight into skull measurements (neuro- and viscerocranium) for this breed using the bivariate and principal components techniques. The first two principal components provide a good quantitative approach to their study. A selection of the most relevant measurements was established based on variation, allowing the number of variables to be reduced from thirty-eight to four. The breed exhibited a fairly low degree of individual variation, but no significant clustering was observed in any of the plots. Evaluation of all quantitative data may also be useful for comparison with other present-day and extinct goat breeds. It is recommended to use a uniform craniometric evaluation system for assessment of all goat breeds.