So, we could list the physical and behavioral differences between them for hours, or we could just settle on the fact that they are different species.
There’s as different as any two species in that sense, even though they are somewhat closely related.
Let’s find out more.
Are goats and rams the same?
No, they are not.
Let’s start with the basic terminology.
Goats are a species of quadrupedal ruminants.
This word is the common name and encompasses any member of the species.
We know what a goat is and know that there are further classifications under that umbrella that they may fall into.
The important thing, though, is that goats are both male and female.
A Ram, on the other hand, is not only a different species but a more specific term.
A Ram is a male sheep.
Sheep is the equivalent term to goat, here—the entire species, both male and female members.
A female sheep is called a ewe.
So, with goats, you have sub-terms to describe the two sexes.
A male goat is a buck, and a female goat is a doe.
But they are all goats. Just as a male sheep is a ram and a female sheep is a ewe, they’re all sheep.
So, that’s where the confusion often lies.
Rams do, in some ways, look more like goats than other sheep.
There is a greater degree of sexual dimorphism in sheep, and female sheep almost never have horns.
Rams can have some very impressive horns—something which we associate with goats.
Goats have sexual dimorphism—that is, the ways in which females and males look different—but not to the same degree.
Females typically do not have horns, but it’s far more common for does to have horns than ewes.
Is a ram a sheep or a goat?
A ram is a sheep. A male sheep, which is what ram signifies.
The term is meant to distinguish that a ram is a male sheep.
Most herds in farm settings consist entirely of females, nowadays, with artificial insemination for breeding.
As with many male herd animals, they are often more trouble than they are worth.
So, for this reason, rams are a less common sight than bucks. This can in many cases lead to mistaken identity, as people assume a horned, sheep like animal must be a goat.
In fact, they are more distantly related than you might think. They are both bovids, but belong to a different species, genus, tribe, and subfamily. Goats are more closely related to deer and antelope, as I mentioned.
So, a ram is a sheep. Who’s the stronger, then? The age old question.
Can a ram beat a goat?
It really depends. Rams and goats can vary hugely in size and weight, and the fight could always go either way.
Rams are more commonly bigger than goats, though, and often have more impressive and stronger horns.
So, in most cases, the ram would probably win.
For the most part, though, they are unlikely to bother one another.
The main reason goats and rams fight members of their own species is that they are competing for the attention of females.
You don’t need to compete with members of another species.
Is a goat male or female?
The word goat comprises the whole species and includes both males and females.
Goat is the common name of the species and has no specific classification beyond that.
This is the smallest subset of the scientific classification of their species.
But there are, of course, names for male and female goats.
Females are does, as I’ve said, and males are bucks.
As are male and female deer, antelope, and ibex, among other species.
What about ram, then?
Is a ram male or female?
A ram is a male of the species sheep. “Ram” is not really a scientific classification in the same way that goat or sheep is.
Males and females are not considered different species, but all belong to one species.
Rams are male sheep and female sheep are ewes.
Rams do often look much more like goats in their morphology than sheep, so this too can often lead to confusion.
Indeed, sheep in general can be hard to distinguish from goats to the untrained eye—wild sheep, that is.
In any case, a ram is a male.
The confusion, I think, arises from the differences in terminology for male and female goats and sheep.
Buck is a term that comprises a fair few species.
Due in part to Hollywood’s influence, I think a lot of people think of bucks as male deer.
But deer are ruminants and closely related to goats.
Rams we think of as big-horned brutes, and because we think of sheep as being more docile, we associate them more with goats.