Ovis

This article refers to the sheep genus. For the species commonly referred to simply as "sheep", see Domestic sheep.

Sheep
Bighorn Sheep
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Artiodactyla Family: Bovidae Subfamily: Caprinae Genus: Ovis Linnaeus, 1758
Species
See text.

Ovis is a genus of mammals. Its five or more highly gregarious species are known as sheep. The domestic sheep is one member of the genus, and is thought to be descended from the wild mouflon of central and southwest Asia. Ovis is part of the goat-antelope subfamily of the ruminant Bovidae.

Terminology

Female sheep are called ewes, males are called rams (sometimes also called bucks or tups) and young sheep are called lambs. The adjective applying to sheep is ovine and the collective term for sheep is flock or mob. The term herd is also occasionally used in this sense. There is a large number of specialist terms related to domestic sheep.

Characteristics

Sheep are usually stockier than most other bovines and some have horns which are more divergent than those of goats. Sheep have scent glands on the face and hind feet. Communication through the scent glands is not well understood but is thought to be important for sexual signaling. Males can smell females which are fertile and ready to mate, and rams mark their territories by rubbing scent on to rocks. They have a four-chambered stomach which plays a vital role in digesting, regurgitating, and redigesting food. Domestic sheep are used for their wool, milk, and meat (which is called mutton or lamb).

Species

Five species and numerous subspecies of sheep are currently recognized, although some subspecies have also been considered full species. The following are the main ones:^[1]

	Ovis ammon	Argali
	Ovis aries aries[2]	Domestic sheep
	Ovis orientalis orientalis group	Mouflon
	Ovis orientalis vignei group	Urial
	Ovis canadensis	Bighorn sheep
	Ovis dalli	Dall Sheep
	Ovis nivicola	Snow sheep

Behaviour

Wild sheep are mostly found in hilly or mountainous habitats. They are fairly small compared to other ungulates; in most species adults weigh less than 100 kg (220 lb) (Nowak 1983). Their diet consists mainly of grasses, as well as other plants and lichens. Like other bovids their digestive system enables them to digest and live on low-quality, rough plant materials. Sheep conserve water well and can live in fairly dry environments. Their bodies are covered by a coat of thick hair to protect them from cold. The coat contains long, stiff hairs, called kemps, and a short woolly undercoat, called fleece, which grows in fall and is shed in spring.^[3]

Wild sheep are social animals and live in groups, called flocks. This helps them to avoid predators and also helps them stay warm in bad weather by huddling together. Flocks of sheep need to keep moving to find new grazing areas and more favorable climate as the seasons change. In each flock there is a sheep, usually a mature ram, which the others follow as a leader ^[3].

In wild sheep both rams and ewes have horns, with those of rams being much larger. The horns of a mature bighorn ram can weigh 14 kg (30 lb) – as much as the rest of its bones put together. Rams use their horns to fight with each other for dominance and for the right to mate with females. In most cases they do not injure each other because they hit each other head to head and their curved horns do not strike each other's bodies. They are also protected by having very thick skin and a double-layered skull.^[4]

Wild sheep have very keen senses of sight and hearing. When detecting predators wild sheep most often flee, usually uphill to higher ground. However they can also fight back. The Dall sheep has been known to butt wolves off the face of cliffs.^[4]

References

• Bulanskey, S. 1992. The Covenant of the Wild. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc. ISBN 0688096107
• Nowak, R. M. and J. L. Paradiso. 1983. Walker's Mammals of the World. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801825253
• Parker, D. 2001. The Sheep Book. Athens, Ohio, USA : Ohio University Press ISBN 0804010323

See also

• Aries, the Ram (astrological sign)
• Barbary Sheep (Ammotragus lervia), another type of goat antelope, not closely related to Ovis sheep.
• Blue sheep or bharal (Pseodois), two species of goat antelopes, not closely related to Ovis sheep.
• Domestic sheep
• Glossary of sheep husbandry
• List of sheep breeds
• Sheep husbandry

External links

• Sheep(rus)
• Miller, S. 1998. "Sheep and Goats". United States Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service
• Oklahoma State University (OSU). 2003 Breeds of Livestock: Sheep Retrieved January 13, 2007
• Huffman, B. 2006. The Ultimate Ungulate Page Website Retrieved January 13, 2007