Meanings
plural mouse-goats
- An extinct genus of goat-antelope (†Myotragus), which lived on the Balearic Islands in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene.
It was once thought that the first humans in the Balearics had domesticated the mouse-goat, as what appeared to be pens filled with dung were found in some caves.
2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: The First 100 Million Years, Penguin, published 2019, page 2492 more examples
Other island examples include pygmy hippos, pygmy deer, pygmy foxes, and the peculiar “mouse-goat”—an extinct species of dwarf sheep that had lived on the Balearic Islands of Spain.
2011, Dennis McCarthy, Here Be DragonsBones of this animal – the so called ‘mouse-goat’, Myotragus balearicus – were first discovered by the pioneering fossil hunter Dorothea Bate (1878–1951).
2014, Paul D. Taylor, Aaron O'Dea, A History of Life in 100 Fossils, page 201
Origin
Translating Myotragus (genus name).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
mouse-goat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mouse-goat
“mouse-goat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mouse-goat. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mouse-goat,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mouse-goat.
Source: mouse-goat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.