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sheep
📅 Updated:2026-05-01
🕒 Created:2011-07-08
🆔 ID:2090
Description
Ovis, members known as Ovines, are a genus of caprines, referred to as the sheep family. Most members are casually known as "sheep", most especially the domestic sheep. In casual usage, sheep as a term is almost always used to refer to domesticated sheep.
Compared to other bovids and caprines, sheep tend to have divergent, spiral curled horns and much stockier bodies. They also posses scent glands on their faces and feet, utilized in territory marking. Domesticated sheep are raised for their wool, milks, and meats.
There are many differing terms for sheep depending on things such as age and gender. Female sheep are called ewes, males are called rams (sometimes also called bucks or tups), and young sheep are called lambs.
Contrary to common misconception, a ram is not a separate animal, nor can a goat be a ram - a ram is simply the word for an adult male sheep.
Species
- bighorn_sheep
- dall_sheep
- domestic_sheep
- barbados_blackbelly
- bluefaced_leicester
- border_leicester
- cheviot_sheep
- clun_forest_sheep
- corriedale
- dorset_down
- greyface_dartmoor
- hampshire_down
- herdwick
- hill_radnor
- icelandic_sheep
- jacob_sheep
- kerry_hill_sheep
- lincoln_sheep
- merino_sheep
- navajo-churro
- oxford_down
- rough_fell
- scottish_blackface
- shropshire_sheep
- southdown_sheep
- valais_blacknose
- welsh_mountain_sheep
- wild_sheep
