The aim of this study was to investigate if changes in heart rate, haematocrit and plasma concentrations of cortisol were associated with behavioural expressions in three consecutive test situations in six castrated male goats, aged 8 months (± 10 days). First, each goat was isolated for 10 min in a room (2.85 x 2.20m), second, each goat was subjected to an approaching bicyclist and third to a dog running towards the goat. The behavior was videotaped. Heart rate was registered telemetrically (Polar Sport tester, Finland). Blood samples were withdrawn before and after the tests via a permanent catheter inserted into one of the jugular veins. The mean cortisol concentration increased significantly during all tests compared to before test levels and decreased between the tests (before and after isolation:29.3±10.1 and 88.6±8.2 respectively, before and after bicycle test: 42.2±7 and 80.6±6 respectively, before and after dog test: 27.9±3.6 and 71.1±7.2 respectively. p=0.0001). There were no significant increases in haematocrit compared to before test levels, but a significant decrease was found after isolation and dog test, respectively. The heart rate was affected by the tests but varied considerably between individuals. A negative spearman rank correlation was found between plasma cortisol concentration and time spent exploring during isolation (rs=-0.89, p=0.03) and bicycle test (rs = -0.94, p=0.017). For the dog test, no significant correlations were found. The changes in heart rate and plasma cortisol concentrations indicate an activation of both the sympathetic nervous system and the HPA-axis which shows that the goats were affected by the test situations, but also that different individuals handle the test situations physiologically and behaviorally different.