The sheep | Facts & Information

Where it lives: grasslands and mountain regions

They live all over the globe except Antarctica, regardless of climate: desert or Rainforest. Most are in Australia.

The sheep (Ovis aries) is a ruminant, hoofed mammal , almost in all cases domestic, being the most widely distributed in the world among domestic animals, raised for wool, skin, meat and milk.

Domestic varieties are the most widely distributed among domestic animals, they can be found in almost all countries of the world.

More than 800 breeds of domestic sheep were created. The breeds are adapted from desert to tropical conditions.

These animals live in flocks only in the domestic environment. They are vegetarians, feeding on weeds and grass, and in winter on grains. Their names differ depending on gender and age.

Thus, the male sheep is called ram, the female is also called mioara, and the chicken is called Lamb.

Sheep and Rams have hollow, unbranched horns that do not fall off.

The Ram's horns are massive and spirally curved. The horns of the adult female are short and very little curved.

Appearance Sheep

The sheep has a chubby body, which is covered with a white, brown or black curly fur, depending on the species to which it belongs. The face is narrow and long, with 2 pointed ears on the sides, and the tail with which the body ends is short. The legs end with 2 fingers, which continue with hooves instead of nails.

Only the male has long, curved horns. Sheep are white, brown or black depending on the species to which they belong. Sheep are hoofed animals, with their hooves split in two.

They are ruminant animals, with missing upper incisor teeth and a four-compartment stomach. Sheep have a long, rather narrow snout and sharp ears.

The length of the sheep is, on average, 1.5 m, having a short tail and an adult can weigh from 75-200 kg. In the Wild are animals running?Tori sprightly and climbing.

Wool breeds

Almost half of the sheep population is raised for wool. These sheep are adapted to semiarid conditions and are characterized by medium size, with the ability to produce large amounts of wool fibers. The breed has been modified and adapted to the conditions of different countries, and the different subtypes are usually combined with the name of the country in which they live, for example australian merino.

Meat breeds

Meat sheep is found in breeds with medium or long wool. 15% of the global sheep population is raised for meat. Medium wool breeds include Suffolk, Hampshire, Shropshire, Southdown, Dorset, Isle-de-France, Cheviot, and Oxford; and long wool breeds include Leicester, Lincoln, Cotswold, and Romney Marsh.

The fat-tailed sheep

These sheep are called so because they can store large amounts of fat in the tail and in the rump region. They are bred mainly for the ability to produce milk superior to other breeds; their wool, however rough, is rough, being used mainly in carpet making. The fat-tailed sheep is found mainly in the extremely arid regions of Africa, the Middle East and Asia and accounts for 25% of the total sheep population. The main breeds are the Awassi, Bakhtiari, Karakul, and Karamon. The skins of newborn lambs of the Karakul breed are used in the manufacture of so-called Persian fur coats.

Hairy sheep

Overall, domestic sheep are much more woolly than their wild sisters, but some breeds lack wool and are covered in hair. They are found in tropical regions and are used for meat. Species of this type include the Barbados Black-bellied sheep, the Persian black-headed sheep and the Peliquey breed.

Features Sheep

On behavior too much is not to say. The sheep does not have much behavior, it acts from instinct: it eats because it is hungry, drinks because it is thirsty, runs away when it feels threatened and runs either into the herd or hai hui where he sees them with his eyes, hence the word.. like sheep on the plains.

Ruminate, walk, bleat and make the famous "olives". They can live without water for a long time and pluck grass that is very close to the ground, while cows cannot do that. It is known that where the sheep passes no one passes. That he doesn't have to.

He laughs like termites. The best example is the sheep itself: The Sheep is the Earth and the wool is the grass, when it puts its crusher into operation it remains bald Earth.

Specific terms

As a regional name in Transylvania and Banat, the term pacuina is used, and an archaic term is mariala. Sheep breeders use differentiated names to designate specimens of the species:

Ram / Rams for males of the species capable of breeding,

Batal / batali for males of the species castrated in order to improve the quality of meat and wool,

Arete/areti for a prasila Ram,

Sheep/sheep for the female capable of breeding,

Mioara/mioare for sheep up to two years old, who have not yet fathered,

Lamb/lambs, sometimes even miala / miale, for the designation of young specimens in general, or differentiated by sex.

A group of sheep is called the flock of sheep.

Sheep Breeding

Like many other animals raised for meat and milk, they enter heat at periodic intervals during the autumn months, although this may vary depending on where they are raised.

In temperate climates, sheep can be in heat at any time of the year. The sheep gives birth to 1-2 lambs.

A few hours after birth, they are already able to follow their mother for shorter distances.