THE SHEEP: INTELLIGENCE, SOCIABILITY, HABITAT, REPRODUCTION AND DESCR...

Intelligent. Complex. Sociable. All those words we quickly ascribe to humans, but would never think to extend to sheep, those white, fluffy creatures you see wandering around in the fields? or that you serve with mint sauce on your plate.

Instead, we have decreed that sheep (Ovines) are simply stupid . This opinion has not changed much since the 1700s, when George Washington, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, said "If freedom of speech is taken away from us, we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter, into dumbness and silence."

Today, being a "sheep" means being someone who mindlessly follows others: "a waste of flesh and brain cells," as the Urban Dictionary puts it.  Most people know sheep as farm animals? woolly ones that say "Baa ." But the domestic sheep is just one species of sheep. There are also five (or six, depending on your source) species of wild sheep.  

The truth is that sheep are much smarter than we know (See paragraph “B-” of “10)”).

Sheep are intelligent and fascinating. They evolved alongside humans, providing companionship , food , and  clothing .  They are also one of the most unfairly stereotyped animals on the planet. Almost everything we believe about them is wrong:

• Reputation: Sheep are stupid, defenseless, harmless creatures that languish on hillsides doing little. They are good for two things: being eaten? and producing wool.

• Fact: Sheep are actually surprisingly intelligent , with impressive memory and recognition abilities. They form friendships, defend themselves in fights, and feel sad when their friends are sent to slaughter. They are also one of the most destructive creatures on the planet.

So read on to discover lots of facts about sheep and how they have played and will continue to play a key role in our communities.

“In my opinion, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being. The more helpless the creature, the more entitled is it to man's protection ?‍♀️ from man's cruelty.” - Gandhi

1) The Sheep in 10 Seconds TOP CHRONO

• COMMON NAME: Sheep
• SCIENTIFIC NAME: Ovis
• DIET: Herbivore?
• HABITAT: Worldwide, it adapts easily
• BASIC GROUP OF ANIMALS: Mammal
• AVERAGE LIFESPAN: 10-14 years on average, up to 20 years
• SIZE: Between 1m and 1.8m long
• WEIGHT: Between 35 and 180 kg
• CONSERVATION STATUS: Only the urial  (Ovis orientalis) is classified as vulnerable and the argali  (Ovis ammon) as near threatened.

2) Where do Sheep come from?

Sheep are descended from wild sheep . They were one of the first domesticated animals, having been bred since about 9,000 BC. Over the years of domestication, sheep were bred to have more wool and developed black ⚫, white ⚪, and spotted varieties.

3) The Sheep: Description

A- The Sheep is a Domesticated Ruminant

The sheep (Ovis aries), is one of the earliest livestock , raised for thousands of years for meat and milk. There are over a billion sheep in the world. The largest numbers are raised in Asia and Africa. Lambs are very independent at birth and form strong bonds with their mothers, recognizing each other by their bleating.

It is a species of domesticated ruminant mammal, raised for its meat, milk and wool . The sheep is generally stockier than its relative the goat (genus Capra); its horns, when present, are more divergent; it has scent glands on the face and hind legs and males do not have the goat's beard.

Male sheep  ♂️ are called rams , females ♀️ are called ewes , and immature animals are called lambs . You can also discover all breeds of sheep .

B- Physical Description of the Sheep

Sheep are related to antelopes, cattle?, musk oxen?, and goats. All of these mammals are even-toed ungulates - their hooves are cloven, or divided into two toes. They are also ruminants - their stomachs have multiple chambers to aid digestion. Most sheep have large, curly horns made of keratin (the same thing as fingernails).

According to Susan Schoenian, a sheep and goat specialist at the University of Maryland Center for Research and Education, there are an estimated 10,000 distinct breeds of domestic sheep (Ovis aries) in the world, making them vary in size. 

Selective breeding has produced sheep with or without horns, wool, and external ears. Their length varies from 100 to 180 cm and the height at the shoulder  from 65 to 127 cm. Adult sheep weigh between 35 and 180 kg . Sheep ? usually have short tails. In all wild sheep species, the outer coat takes the form of hair, and underneath is a short undercoat of fine wool that has been developed into the fleece of domesticated sheep.

4) What does sheep eat?

Sheep are herbivores, meaning that their diet does not include meat. These animals prefer to graze on grass ? or short, thin legumes , but they also eat tall, coarse or scrubby plants and generally feed on seeds, grass and plants. They graze plants closer to the root than cattle, and care must therefore be taken to ensure that sheep do not overgraze in any particular area. 

Like all ruminants, they have a multi-chambered stomach that is adapted to ferment cellulose before digestion. To fully digest their food, sheep regurgitate their food into their mouths, re-chew it, and swallow it (allowing their four separate stomach compartments to properly digest the grasses and other herbs they eat). This regurgitated food is called "cud."

Some sheep do n't need much water . Desert bighorn sheep, for example, get most of their water from eating plants, according to the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History.

5) What is the Habitat of the Sheep?

Sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated, so they are raised all over the world . Wild sheep also live throughout the world (in the Middle East, Asia, Central Europe, and North America) mainly in mountainous areas. The bighorn sheep  lives in the Rocky Mountain region of North America. 

Desert bighorn sheep live in Death Valley, California, as well as Nevada, Texas, and northern Mexico. They can live on desert mountains - up to 4,000 feet (1,200 meters). Urials can live even higher. They are found in Asia and the Middle East on grassy terrain up to 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) . 

6) Offspring and Reproduction of Sheep

Male sheep fight for the right to mate with females and the strongest is usually the only one allowed to mate. The mating season, called the rut, occurs in the fall ?. After mating, female ewes have a gestation period of about five months . They usually give birth to one or two young at a time in the spring. 

Baby sheep called lambs can walk within minutes of birth , although they are often dependent on their mothers for the first four to six months of their lives. They are weaned (when lambs stop suckling and start suckling) at around four to six months of age and reach sexual maturity at around one and a half to five years of age, depending on the species and sex. For example, male argali sheep do not become sexually mature until they are 5 years old, while females do so at 1 or 2 years of age, according to the Animal Diversity Web (ADW ).

7) Classification of this Bovidae ( taxonomy )

Sheep are members of the Bovidae family , which includes antelopes, cattle, and goats. Sheep can usually be identified from their similar-looking cousins ​​by their horns. Goats typically have straight horns and sheep have rounded horns. Additionally, male goats have beards while male sheep do not.

Here is the taxonomy of sheep , according to ITIS  :

• Ovis ammon (argalis) , with nine subspecies
• Ovis aries (domestic sheep, mouflon, red sheep?, wild sheep), with nine subspecies, including the urinals
• Ovis canadensis (Bighorn Sheep), with seven subspecies
• Ovis dalli (Dall sheep, Fannin sheep, Stone sheep), with two subspecies
• Ovis nivicola (snow sheep ⛄), with four subspecies

8) Sheep Species

Some experts, such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), consider the wild ancestor of the domestic sheep, the urial , to be a separate species (Ovis orientalis). Others, such as the ADW and the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), classify them as two subspecies of Ovis aries.

The largest species of sheep is the Argali sheep  (Ovis ammon), according to the ADW. This species from Central Asia  ? weighs up to 185 kilograms. It measures 90 to 125 centimeters at the shoulder and 120 to 190 cm from head to tail!

Bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) of the Rocky Mountains are similar in size. Males are typically 160–180 cm (5.3–6.1 in) long (from head to tail) and weigh 119–127 kg (260–280 lb). Females are about 150 cm (59 in) long and weigh 53–91 kg (120–200 lb). Bighorn rams have massive horns that weigh more than all the bones in their body, about 14 kg (30 lb).

The Dall sheep  (Ovis dalli) lives in Alaska and the Yukon. They are the only mountain sheep with thin horns. Males have massive horns that flare and curl, but females have thin horns. Males weigh 160 to 250 pounds (73 to 113 kg) and are 51 to 61 inches (130 to 180 cm) long. Females weigh 100 to 110 pounds (46 to 50 kg) and are 52 to 64 inches (132 to 162 cm) tall.

The snow sheep , or Siberian mouflon (Ovis nivicola), lives in eastern Russia. It measures 140 to 160 cm in length and 95 to 112 cm at the shoulder and weighs 60 to 120 kg.

9) The Habits of the Sheep

Sheep are essentially shy animals that tend to graze in herds and are almost completely unprotected from predators. They are prey animals, so largely defenseless against predators, naturally nervous and easily frightened. They herd together for safety. Sheep have a "flight zone" - the distance they keep from a potential threat such as a person or a sheepdog - that varies depending on their degree of wildness.

Rams fight for dominance in their pack. Some collide at speeds of up to 20 mph (32 km/h) , according to National Geographic. Dominance is achieved when a male submits. This process can take hours.

10) Social Behavior of Sheep

A- The Herd

Are sheep social ?️ , but usually only with their own sex. Males have their own flocks called bachelor flocks. These flocks typically contain five to 50 rams at a time. Females live in nursery flocks. Nursery flocks can have anywhere from five to 100 members, including adult females and their young.

In the wild, sheep roam for miles in complex, closely spaced family structures over varied landscapes and terrains. Each flock stays together and cooperates for protection. As they roam, one sheep periodically ventures ahead of the group to keep watch. A second sheep follows, then signals to the rest of the flock that it is safe to come. Sheep that act as scouts tend to do this throughout their lives .

B- The Sociability and Intelligence of the Sheep

Sheep are intelligent , curious animals with good memories. They remember the animals and humans they have met, and form lasting friendships with their flock mates. 

A 2001 study by Keith Kendrick, now at the University of Electronic Science and Technology in China, showed that they can recognize and remember at least 50  individual faces for more than two years. That's longer than many humans.

Some neuroscientists now believe that the sheep brain recognizes faces in the same way that a human brain does . In one study, a sheep was able to correctly identify a human face on a screen 50 times out of 50. These same sheep could also remember the faces of their sheep friends, up to 50, even if they hadn't seen them in years.

When observed for long periods of time, sheep appear to form one-on-one friendships , grazing (grazing on grass) with the same companions over and over again. Researchers believe that, like humans, sheep think about their friends even when those sheep are not around. They also become distressed or discouraged when their favorite companions are missing from the flock.

11) Sheep on Farms

Most sheep are kept outdoors in extensive systems , with less than 1% being kept in intensive systems (although this still represents several million animals). Some sheep may be housed during the winter, but otherwise housing is usually reserved for lambing, fattening some lambs and milking the ewes.

Although the vast majority of sheep are not farmed intensively, there are still serious concerns about the welfare of sheep and lambs.

A- Sheep's Wool

Sheep are selectively bred to produce abnormally high amounts of wool . Without any human intervention and selective breeding, sheep produce just enough wool to protect themselves from extreme temperatures. The process of shearing wool can be very stressful for sheep and, especially on large farms, is often traumatic.

It is well known that the combination of stress, pressure and heat from scissors ✂ causes a sharp increase in cortisol levels, the main indicator of fear . In addition, shearers are usually paid by volume and not by the hour, resulting in a quick job with no regard for the welfare of the sheep.

Contrary to popular belief, sheep raised for their wool are not allowed to live out their remaining days on pasture . After a few years, wool production declines and it is no longer considered profitable to care for these older sheep. Sheep raised for wool are almost always killed for meat. 

B- Lamb Meat

Apart from the sale of wool, the other main source of income from sheep production is the sale of lambs for meat . The term "lamb" refers to the meat of a sheep less than one year old. The meat of sheep older than one year is called mutton. Mutton has a stronger flavour and lamb is generally preferred over mutton.

Lambs are slaughtered between the ages of 2 and 12 months . Two-month-old lambs are sold as "hot house" lambs and are considered a delicacy by Europeans.

C- Commercial Slaughter

When sheep arrive at commercial slaughterhouses, they are unloaded ⚡, weighed, and placed in a crush chute. Before being slaughtered, each animal is supposed to be rendered unconscious . The goal is to penetrate the brain but not to sever the brain stem. If the brain stem is severed, the heart will stop pumping blood and the animal will not bleed out as quickly or as completely as desired.

D- Religious or Ritual Slaughter of Sheep

The two main religions that practice ritual slaughter are Jews (kosher) and Muslims (halal) . Although the Humane Slaughter Act requires that animals be rendered insensible before slaughter, religious or ritual slaughter is exempt from the Humane Slaughter Act.

12) Conservation Status of Sheep

According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , most sheep species are classified as Least Concern and are not threatened with extinction .

However, urials (classified here as Ovis orientalis, with eight subspecies), which are found in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, are classified as vulnerable .  Their populations have declined by at least 30% in 24 years, due to hunting, hybridization and habitat deterioration.

Argali (Ovis ammon), which occur throughout Central Asia, are listed as Near Threatened due to significant population declines (though likely at a rate of less than 30% over three generations), due to poaching and competition with livestock.

13) The Domestication of Sheep

Sheep were first domesticated from wild species at least 9,000 BC , and their remains have been found at many sites of early human habitation in the Middle East, Europe, and Central Asia. Domestic sheep are raised for their fleece (wool), for milk, and for meat.

The flesh of mature sheep is called mutton, that of immature animals is called lamb. It is estimated that there were over 1 billion sheep in the world at the beginning of the 21st century. The main national producers are Australia, New Zealand, China, India, the United States, South Africa, Argentina and Turkey. Countries with large areas of grassland are often the main producers.

Domestic sheep are distinguished from their wild parents and from each other by conformation, quantity and quality of fleece, color, size, milk production, and other characteristics. Most breeds of domesticated sheep produce wool, while a few produce only hair, and wild sheep produce a combination of wool and hair .

Several hundred different breeds of sheep have been developed to meet environmental conditions - influenced by latitudes and altitudes - and to meet human needs for clothing and food.

Fine wool sheep breeds are generally raised for wool production  only , while medium or long wool or hair only breeds are generally raised for meat production. However, several crosses have been developed that produce high quality wool and meat. Of the more than 200 sheep breeds in the world, the majority are of limited use except in local areas.

14) Other Facts about Sheep

• If a sheep rolls over on its back, it cannot get up without help ?‍? . A fallen sheep is called a "castrated" sheep. They can become distressed and die within a short time if they are not brought back to a normal position. Once back on their feet, they may need to be supported for a few minutes to ensure they are stable. This is especially true for pregnant ewes and short, stocky ewes with full fleece. 

• Most of the sheep's milk produced in the world is processed into cheese , such as feta, ricotta, pecorino, Romano and Roquefort.

• The most famous sheep  ? is probably Dolly, the first mammal to be cloned. She was born in Scotland in 1996, gave birth to six lambs, and died in 2003 after developing a lung infection. She was stuffed and displayed at the Royal Museum of Scotland. (Fun fact: Dolly was named after country singer Dolly Parton.)

• Every winter ❄, a sheep's horns receive a growth ring . By counting the rings, scientists can determine the age of a male sheep.