Friday, February 23, 2007

The Mouflon

he Mouflon is a variety of wild sheep and as such is one of the Caprinae or "goat antelopes". It is consideration to be one of the two ancestors for all modern domestic sheep breeds. It is red-brown with a dark back-stripe, light colored saddle patch and underparts. The males are horned and the females are horned or polled.
They originated in Southwest Asia, where the types known as Asiatic mouflon lives. They were introduced to the islands of Corsica, Sardinia, and Cyprus through the neolithic period, perhaps as feral domesticated animals, where they naturalized to the mountainous interiors of these islands over the past few thousand years, giving rise to the species known as European mouflon . They are now unusual on the islands, but have been successfully introduced into central Europe, including Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania, even in some northern European countries, such as Finland.
The scientific classification of the Mouflon is disputed but the European Mouflon may be considered as either Ovis musimon or Ovis ammon musimon.

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