Alkaloids

• Acacia trees are high in alkaloids, a chemical that most browsing or grazing animals are unable to tolerate in significant quantities. Alkaloids taste bad and interfere with normal metabolism. Goats, however, are different. Proportionally, they have some of the largest livers of all ruminant livestock and have a digestive system specifically designed for detoxification.
  
  

The Acacias of Hawaii

• The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is fighting a battle against feral goat populations. Since 1921, feral livestock populations have been such a problem for the koa (Acacia koa) that the Hawaiian Division of Forestry and Wildlife has been forced to actively destroy these animals. The feral goat population continue to interfere with the koa's natural replacement cycle. The exclusion and elimination of feral goats from many state parks are allowing the koa trees to begin their recovery.
  
  

What Else Will Goats Eat?

• Goats, feral or not, will eat nearly anything they can get in their mouths. Some of the plants that goats relish are known killers of other livestock. Often, goats are run in pastures with cows or horses to eliminate noxious weeds. Thistles, as well as wild blackberries, wild roses and briars are among the favorites of goats. Goats also relish poison ivy and kudzu, sometimes tearing down fences to access these nuisance plants.
  
  

Browsing

• Although they are specially adapted for eating poisonous and pointed plants, there is another theory as to why goats can tolerate a diet that would kill a lesser animal. Because goats are browsers, they have a varied diet. Browsers prefer to nibble at this and that, instead of simply devouring a single plant and moving on to the next. Goats feed primarily by eating the tender parts of plants, then revisiting that plant later on. In this way, they get less of the toxic chemicals contained in dangerous plants while still getting the benefits of having that plant as part of their varied diet.