Sheep Sounds and Pictures Sheep (Ovis aries) are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries. Numbering a little over one billion, domestic sheep are also the most numerous species of sheep. A male sheep is called a ram and a female sheep is called a ewe /juː/. Sheep are most likely descended from the wild mouflon of Europe and Asia. One of the earliest animals to be domesticated for agricultural purposes, sheep are raised for fleece, meat (lamb, hogget or mutton) and milk. A sheep's wool is the most widely used animal fiber, and is usually harvested by shearing. Ovine meat is called lamb when from younger animals and mutton when from older ones. Sheep continue to be important for wool and meat today, and are also occasionally raised for pelts, as dairy animals, or as model organisms for science. Sheep husbandry is practised throughout the majority of the inhabited world, and has been fundamental to many civilizations. In the modern era, Australia, New Zealand, the southern and central South American nations, and the British Isles are most closely associated with sheep production. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep picture source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flock_of_sheep.jpg Flock of sheep. These particular sheep belong to a research flock at the US Sheep Experiment Station near Dubois, Idaho, USA Image taken from http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/apr12/k4166-5.htm (Image Number K4166-5). Photo by Keith Weller. This image is in the public domain because it contains materials that originally came from the Agricultural Research Service, the research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Border_Collie_sheepdog_trial.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lamb_first_steps_%28edited%29.jpg Edited version of commons image Image:Lamb first steps.jpg This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Black_sheep-1.jpg Fotografía tomada en Brunete, Madrid, España. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

• published: 02 Oct 2013
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