The sheep is a domesticated animal that is raised for food and wool. A description of the physiological characteristics and breeds of small cattle, as well as its role in human culture and life, are described below.
Physiology of sheep
Sheep breeding is the most profitable livestock industry. In the process of breeding sheep, the farmer receives: wool, meat and tallow products, milk, animal skins. Based on the study of the physiological characteristics of small ruminants, technologies have been developed for obtaining biologically active substances based on the waste products of livestock production: fat, sperm, placenta. These products are used in medicine and cosmetology.
Sheep have a physiological feature, which is to quickly adapt to the conditions of keeping and grazing. Such animals have extraordinary mobility and endurance. They are able to survive in temperatures down to -20 Β° C due to the warm coat and fat layer on the body.
The meat and tallow products of sheep breeding are well affected by the place of grazing of animals and the composition of the food they eat, because the more vitamins and minerals a sheep eats, the better the metabolic processes in her body.
Did you know? Sheep are herd animals, in the absence of their relatives nearby, they experience a strong nervous shock.
Sheep should only be grazed in spacious pastures that do not have ravines and are also not cluttered with trees that provide shade for a long period of the day. Everything is explained by the physiology of the animal. The sheep is not able to sense depth and avoids shaded areas, the animal always moves in the direction of the light.
Sheep in mythology and religion
The golden-fleeced ram from the myths of ancient Greece was sent to earth by the goddess Hera to save the children of King Afamant – Phrix and Gela. But in the process of traveling through the expanses of the sea, Gela was drawn into a whirlpool and died. Frix escaped on the back of a ram. Upon arrival on the shores of Colchis, he sacrificed the animal to Zeus.
The Golden Fleece, taken from a ram, became a talisman and a symbol of the prosperity of the lands to which the son of Afamant arrived. The myth of the Golden Fleece indicates a connection between Ancient Greece and Colchis (the territory of modern Georgia). In ancient times, the inhabitants of the Caucasus mined gold by immersing the skin of a ram in water. Small particles of gold were fixed on the fibers of the skin, thereby giving it great value.
In religions around the world, the sheep symbolizes sacrifice and humility. So, in Christianity, the Lamb acts as Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary from God. According to legend, a lamb was sacrificed instead of thousands of people.
In Islam, Eid al-Adha is celebrated annually – a holiday during which every devout Muslim must slaughter a sheep or a ram in memory of the mercy of Allah. According to legend, the prophet Ibrahim was supposed to sacrifice his son Ismail, but the merciful God took pity on him and sent down an angel with a lamb to earth. The animal became a salvation for the boy.
In predictions
In Kyrgyzstan, lamb is the most popular product. Many rituals and beliefs are associated with it.
- It is believed that during the feast, the more a man eats a ram bone, the more delightful his future wife will be.
- The shoulder bone of a sheep should not remain intact after a feast. A person who has eaten the meat of this part of the animal must crush the bone. This is because there is a belief that by looking through the subtle structure of this object at the moonlight, you can see your future. So that the evil sorcerer could not harm the human soul through this attribute, they break it.
- When a child is born in the house, the father should eat the meat from the lamb’s neck, and hang the skeleton at the entrance of the house, which will be there until the baby learns to hold his head on his own.
- The radius is the guardian of the family hearth, so a man should eat it and hang it over the front door. This ritual will drive away evil spirits and maintain a good relationship between husband and wife.
Did you know? If in the process of watering several different flocks are mixed, then as soon as the shepherd begins to call Β«ΡΠ²ΠΎΠΈΡ Β» sheep, the animals will dutifully go to the pasture.
In astronomy
The constellation Aries has been studied since antiquity. His image is included in the Algamest list, compiled by the greatest thinker of that time, Ptolemy. The constellation Aries in ancient times was given increased attention due to the fact that it contains the vernal equinox.
The constellation consists of 3 stars – Hamal, Sheratan and Mezartim.
Sheep domestication
Few species of animals are able to coexist in harmony with humans. The domestication of animals has been going on for many centuries. Sheep were domesticated about 10 years ago.
An artiodactyl animal of the genus of rams of the mouflon breed is the closest relative of domestic species of small ruminants. In the course of many years of crossbreeding, more than 150 breeds of sheep have been created, which have a distant resemblance to the wild progenitor.
Shepherds and sheep
A feature of the sheep is the fact that they are highly dependent on the shepherd. In the cold of winter, when a blizzard sweeps, sheep are sure to scatter “who goes where.” But if there is a shepherd in the center of the herd, then not a single animal will leave the pasture. Sheep, on the contrary, will huddle together in a dense pile and thus warm each other. The reason that the animal strayed from the herd or, on the contrary, joined a strange flock is a disease of the eyes or ear canals, because the rams always follow their guide, and he does not push them.
The shepherd is the leader of the flock. Animals are able to remember the image of their shepherd and can recognize him even after a 2-year separation.
Breeds
In total, there are about 600 different breeds of sheep in the world. They may differ in body structure, life expectancy, and the ability to adapt to climatic conditions.
Small cattle, depending on the purpose of cultivation, are divided into 3 main types:
- meat view characterized by large body dimensions and the ability to quickly gain weight.
- Dairy breeds are famous for their high fecundity, its offspring is used for making smushki.
- wooly look cultivated for high quality fleece.
Sheep breeds can be distinguished according to the industries for which they are used:
- fine fleece;
- semi-fine-wool;
- coarse-haired;
- semi-coarse;
- smushkovoe;
- meat-tallow;
- fur;
- meat-wool-milk;
- wooly meat.
The life expectancy of small ruminants depends on the breed and breeding conditions. The Urial breed has the shortest life cycle, which dies upon reaching 6 years of age.
The average age of a sheep is 12-14 years, but in farms they are kept up to 8 years of age. It is this life expectancy that is most productive.
The female of this species reaches puberty already at the 7th month of growth and is ready to reproduce offspring. But in order to preserve the productivity of the animal as much as possible, a sheep happens from the age of 1,5 years.
Representatives of the mouflon breed, unlike their relatives, are very large animals that can survive in mountain ranges 5 thousand meters high above sea level. The argali breed lives in mountainous areas at an altitude of 2,5 km above sea level. The lamb of this variety has giant horns, reaching a weight of 35 kg and a beautiful, brown coat.
Learn more about lamb for more information.
Hybrids
The crossing of rams with goats was repeatedly tested. But the result of crossing did not always give positive results. Due to the fact that a goat and a sheep have a difference in the number of chromosomes – 60 and 54, respectively, their common offspring, in most cases, are not viable.
In 2000, a hybrid from a ram and a goat was born in Botswana, which had 57 chromosomes.
The cub developed well and at the age of 5 weighed 93 kg. Its distinguishing features were: coarsened wool, under which soft sheep’s down was hidden. The body of the hybrid looked massive, and the limbs, unlike the short-legged rams, were inherited from the goat. Despite congenital infertility, the hybrid showed increased libido, which soon became an obstacle to its development, and it was castrated.
In New Zealand, a female was born with 57 chromosomes. The animal did not have the ability to reproduce offspring. A sheep-goat hybrid in France was able to successfully bear cubs, one of which was born alive and had 54 chromosomes.
Video: Hybrid goat and ram
Sheep incidents
Once in Norway, in the city of Helgoisund, a local resident’s ram had a trouble. While grazing on a hill, the animal caught on a power wire with its horn and, under the pressure of its own weight, as if on a cable car, slid down into a ravine. The picture was as follows – approximately in the middle of the wire between the hill and the power line pole, a ram hangs and bleats plaintively.
The rescue operation lasted for an hour, because the frightened ram kicked and did not allow people to tie themselves with a rope.
The rescue operation lasted for an hour, because the frightened ram kicked and did not allow people to tie themselves with a rope.
Sheep in science
A sheep named Dolly became famous in the scientific world, thanks to the cloning experiment. This process was carried out at the Roslyn Institute in Scotland in 1996. The experimenters were scientists Ian Wilmuth and Keith Campbell.
Dolly became a genetic copy of the donor cell, which was removed from the mature somatic cells of an animal that died at the time of the experiment.
The material needed for cloning was stored in liquid nitrogen in advance. An interesting fact is that the cloned sheep lived for 6,5 years and managed to give birth to 6 lambs during its existence. In 2003, Dolly fell ill and had to be euthanized.
In people’s lives
In the life of a modern person, sheep are a source of food and a stable income from the sale of wool and other sheep products. For example, ram’s horn is used to make decorative figurines or in the interior of a house, sperm and lard are in demand in cosmetology and pharmaceuticals.
But in the 30th century, sheep caused the death of about XNUMX% of the population of England. Description of the events of that time can be found in the lines of the famous work of Thomas More called “Utopia”. It tells about the regime of the formation of capitalism, when the peasants were expelled from their lands due to the fact that the sheep of the local bourgeoisie had nowhere to graze.
The influence of sheep on human life can be considered at a psychological level. Everyone knows the method of salvation from insomnia, which consists in counting this animal.
Monotony in the calculations “plunges” a person into a light state of trance and dulls attention, which will help to relax the nervous system and fall asleep quickly.
In linguistics
Linguists note that the word “sheep” in the dialects of the Indo-European group has approximately the same sound. This fact is explained by the fact that the domestication of sheep occurred a very long time ago and people in different habitats borrowed the name of the animal from each other, interpreting it according to their own language.
Important! The word “sheep” has the same root as the Old Slavonic name “ram”, which translates as – a ram. In Latin, this animal is called “ovis”, in the Indian dialect “avika”, in Lithuanian “avis”.
Sheep as a symbol in art
In art, sheep symbolize tenderness and delight. So, in the Renaissance, at the peak of popularity was the image of the harmonious existence of a person with the outside world. The artist Francois Boucher on his canvases “Autumn Pastoral” and “Little Shepherdess” depicted pretty girls next to miniature lambs.
The painters Franz Marc and Marc Chagall painted sheep in the brightest colors, using expressive forms in the depiction of animals. Their paintings are created to symbolize the heavenly utopia and embody the idea of ββharmony with nature.
Sheep records
The real record holder for the amount of wool was a ram named Chris, who strayed from his herd and disappeared. It was found by Australian animal rights activists near Canberra. The missing lamb wandered for 5 years. During this period, he was so overgrown with hair that he was already on the verge of death.
The sheared fleece was 47 cm long and weighed about 40 kg. This fact is an absolute record, because the animal belongs to the Merino breed, which bring only up to 5 kg of fleece per year.
Interesting stories about sheep for children
In the literature of the peoples of the world, many stories, fairy tales and legends about sheep have been preserved. In these narratives, animals can be described in different ways, they are endowed with human thinking and voice. Stories for children about sheep are often instructive and tell about how to live righteously and take care of others.
Important! Sheep in children’s stories symbolize stubbornness, sometimes ignorance, which should teach the child good manners, and the sheep, on the contrary, acts as a symbol of tenderness and naivety.
List of folk tales recommended for children to read:
- “Goat and ram”;
- “The Wolf and the Sheep”;
- “Cat, ram and rooster”;
- “Golden Sheep”;
- “Brave ram”.
For reading with children, the works of writers who used the image of an animal in their works are recommended, for example:
- Mikhail Saltykov-Shedrin – “Rain-incomprehensible”;
- Alexei Tolstoy – “Cat-gray forehead, goat and ram”;
- Yana Sipatkina – “The Tale of the Clever Mind”;
- Irina Rogaleva – “The Tale of a Lamb named Cloud”.
The above stories and fairy tales are able to develop a child’s imagination, with the right explanation – to teach the norms of behavior in society.
If you need to explain to children who a sheep is, then you can view the cycle of educational cartoons “Sheep and a Cow”. It is possible to view “cartoons” that are created for entertainment, such as: “Shaun the Sheep”, “Smeshariki”, “Dolly and Holly Sheep”.
Today, a person breeds sheep in order to obtain food and wool. Sheep farming brings good profits and improves the economic budget of a country. The image of the animal is used in folklore, art, religion and is an integral part of human history.
