oh dear, falling goats?

I heard about these guys when I was at school in Ottawa. They somehow randomly came up in conversation last night, and well apparently not that many people have heard about them. I thought this was a big hoax the first time I saw them, but apparently this is the real deal. Anyway they make me laugh, and feel absolutely terrible all at the same time.

Time for some school; they have quite a few names but many know them as fainting goats. Their muscles freeze for roughly 10 seconds when they are startled. Though painless, this generally results in the little guys falling on their side, as they get older the goats learn to spread their legs or lean against something when startled, and often they continue to run about in an awkward, stiff-legged shuffle. Kind of hilarious. I don't entirely understand "who decided" that playing dead (involuntarily) would be a solid form of defence, but well I guess at the very least its comical for the rest of the animal kingdom. m.