The Icelandic is the Icelandic

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

domestic sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to ...

. It belongs to the Northern European Short-tailed group of sheep, and is larger than most breeds in that group. It is thought to have been introduced to Iceland by

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

in the late ninth or early tenth century. It is generally short-legged and stocky, slender and light-boned, and usually horned, although polled and polycerate animals can occur; there is a polled strain, the . The fleece is double-coated and may be white or a variety of other colors; the face and legs are without

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

. The sheep are highly resistant to cold, and are generally left unshorn for the winter. Icelandic ewes are highly prolific, with a lambing percentage of 175–220%. The (Thoka)

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

is carried by some ewes, which may give birth to large litters of lambs. A unique strain within the population is the Leadersheep, which carries a hereditary ability or predisposition to lead other sheep safely over dangerous ground.

History

It is thought that the sheep were introduced to Iceland by

in the late ninth or early tenth century. Breed numbers reached a peak in 1978, when there were approximately , or about four sheep for every inhabitant of Iceland. By 2007 the total number had fallen to about . In 2018 a population of just over was reported to

DAD-IS DAD-IS is the acronym for the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System, a tool developed and maintained by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as a part of its programme for management of animal genetic resources for ...

Characteristics

The colors of Icelandic sheep are inherited in a similar way to those of other sheep, but they display more variety in color and pattern than most other breeds, and some variations are seen which are not seen in other sheep. Each sheep carries three genes that affect the color of the sheep, and each gene has dominant and recessive

allele An allele is a variant of the sequence of nucleotides at a particular location, or Locus (genetics), locus, on a DNA molecule. Alleles can differ at a single position through Single-nucleotide polymorphism, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), ...

Use

Until the 1940s it was the predominant

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

-producing animal in Iceland. In the twenty-first century it is reared principally for

meat Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...

, which accounts for more than 80% of the total income derived from sheep farming. The fleece is double-coated, with a long outer coat () which gives protection from snow and rain, and a fine inner coat () which insulates the animal against the cold. The wool of the outer coat has a diameter of about or sometimes more, and a staple length of some ; the inner coat has a diameter of or sometimes less, with a staple length in the range . The two types may be used separately, or spun into a single yarn, '' lopi'', a soft wool which provides good insulation.

History

Characteristics

Use

Notes

References

Further reading