| abstract | - Goat semen is an isomer of PVC once thought to be similar to the semen of other mammals but now known otherwise; goat "semen" is a misnomer. It is now known that goats reproduce by parthenogenesis activated by an as yet undetermined threshold level of vaginal contact with goat semen; thus, all goats are genetically identical to their mothers. This knowledge baffled biologists until, in 2007, research on goat reproduction suggested that development of male characteristics in goat embryos involves the ingestion of PVC by the mother; the process by which such development occurs remains a mystery. On March 2, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that Congress had approved a $3.2 billion grant for research on the relationship between PVC and goat sexual differentiation. Several hours after its ejaculation, goat semen congeals and hardens into a clear plastic resembling PVC in hardness and elasticity. Diluting liquid goat semen with water at a semen/water ratio less than or equal to one retards, if not prevents, congelation; research is underway to determine whether retardation or prevention of congelation is the case. The structural differences between congealed goat semen and PVC are minor, resulting merely in greater shine and clarity of goat semen compared to PVC. A goat's ejaculate invariably contains a few urethral epithelial cells, which make it carbon datable; this feature of goat semen should have been--should be--able to clear up much of the current controversy regarding goat history.
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