The exact line of descent from wild ancestors to domestic sheep is unclear. Main article: History of the domestic sheep In both ancient and modern religious ritual, sheep are used as sacrificial animals. Sheep figure in many mythologies-such as the Golden Fleece-and major religions, especially the Abrahamic traditions. As livestock, sheep are most often associated with pastoral, Arcadian imagery. Many other specific terms for the various life stages of sheep exist, generally related to lambing, shearing, and age.īeing a key animal in the history of farming, sheep have a deeply entrenched place in human culture, and are represented in much modern language and symbolism. Use of the word sheep began in Middle English as a derivation of the Old English word scēap. There is a large lexicon of unique terms for sheep husbandry which vary considerably by region and dialect. 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. Sheep husbandry is practised throughout the majority of the inhabited world, and has been fundamental to many civilizations. 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. In Commonwealth countries, ovine meat is called lamb when from younger animals and mutton when from older ones in the United States, meat from both older and younger animals is usually called lamb.

A sheep's wool is the most widely used animal fiber, and is usually harvested by shearing. One of the earliest animals to be domesticated for agricultural purposes, sheep are raised for fleeces, meat ( lamb, hogget or mutton) and milk. Sheep are most likely descended from the wild mouflon of Europe and Asia, with Iran being a geographic envelope of the domestication center. An adult female is referred to as a ewe ( / j uː/), an intact male as a ram, occasionally a tup, a castrated male as a wether, and a young sheep as a lamb. Numbering a little over one billion, domestic sheep are also the most numerous species of sheep. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the term sheep can apply to other species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated sheep. Sheep ( pl.: sheep) or domestic sheep ( Ovis aries) are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock.

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