[5]: 73  The earliest Western description may be that published in 1555 by Pierre Belon,[6]: 12  who while travelling from Heraclea to Konya in southern Turkey had seen goats with snow-white "... wool so delicate that one would judge it finer than silk ...".

[4]: 357  With the exception of the face and legs, the animal is entirely covered in a coat of long ringlets of fine and lustrous mohair.

The face and coat are normally white, but – particularly in southern Turkey – black, brown and grey animals also occur.

[4]: 357  In 2010 approximately half of all mohair production was in South Africa; Argentina and Lesotho were also major producers, followed by the United States, Turkey, Australia and New Zealand.

[10]: 8 In some other countries the Angora is reared for its meat, which is succulent and tender, and which in the early twentieth century was described as the best of its kind in the world.