Sheep

Introduction:
Sheep are one of the eight woolly mammal species. 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. Sheep are usually stockier than other bovines and some have horns, which are more divergent than those of goats. Sheep are also equipped with horizontal slit shaped pupils that provide better vision in the vertical plane. The raising of domesticated sheep for wool and meat became a major industry in colonial Australia and New Zealand and remains significant.

Location:
Wild sheep are mostly found in hilly or mountainous habitats - they avoid dense forests. Also, sheep tend to stay within two kilometres of a water source. Home ranges are quite large, averaging nearly 17 square kilometres.

Size:
They come in all shapes and sizes, and can weigh over 300 lbs (136 kg), however, most species of wild sheep adults weigh less than 220 lbs (100 kg). In wild sheep, both rams and ewes have horns, with the rams' being much larger. The horns of a mature bighorn ram can weigh 30 lbs (14 kg).

Food:
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. They have a four-chambered stomach, which plays a vital role in digesting, regurgitating, and redigesting food.

Life Cycle:
When a male is ready to mate, he will go into a herd of females, and instigate one of the females to chase him. Once they mate, the gestation period for ewes is 175–180 days and unborn lambs start to develop extremely rapidly as spring approaches. About three-quarters of the growth of the unborn lamb takes place in the last 60 days of pregnancy. Newborn lambs are woolly, they have little horns, and they can walk and climb by the first day. Lambs will stay hidden where they were born for about a week and then start to follow their mother. A lamb will be weaned when its is about five months old. Male lambs will leave their mother and join a male group when they are between two and four years old. Female lambs will usually remain with their mother's group for her whole life. The maximum life span is 16 - 18 years but an average is about 7 - 8 years. Most die during the winter from cold, predation or disease due to malnutrition.

Interesting Facts:
· In New Zealand, sheep outnumber the human population 12 to 1.
· Sheep droppings have been used, once sterilized and mixed with other traditional pulp materials, to make paper.
· Wild sheep have very keen senses of sight and hearing.
· Sheep have scent glands on their face and hind feet.
· They have special shaped hooves so they can climb steep, rocky mountain sides.
· Wild sheep are covered in lots of hair, not wool, which keeps them warm in the cold mountain air.
· A sheep's horizontal pupils are beneficial in steep, mountainous environments.
· Some wild sheep’s horns grow continuously and are never shed.

Population & Predators:
Wild sheep are social animals and live in groups, called flocks. This helps them stay warm in bad weather by huddling together, and avoid predators such as wolves, bears and bobcats, by grouping together in a circle and facing out towards the predator. Some wild sheep, upon detecting predators will 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. It is estimated that there were as many as two million bighorns in North America at the beginning of the 19th century, but today there are only about 70,000. This precipitous decline is thought to have taken place mainly between 1850-1900, and was caused by disease introduced by domestic sheep, and excessive hunting by humans. Also, human activity such as the construction of roads, urban development and recreational development has impinged on bighorn territory and forced them from prime habitat, interrupted migration routes and split larger herds into smaller ones.

Help Protect Their Environment:
· Support more restrictive hunting laws, which will allow sheep numbers to increase.
· Be aware of the construction of any roads and urban development that could destroy animal habitats, and take action in helping defend this land, not only for sheep, but for all wildlife.