The mouflon (''Ovis gmelini'') is a
wild sheep native to
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
, and the
Caspian region, including eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Iran.
It is also found in parts of Europe. It is thought to be the ancestor of all modern
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 ...
breeds.
Taxonomy
''Ovis gmelini'' was the
scientific name
In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...
proposed by
Edward Blyth
Edward Blyth (23 December 1810 – 27 December 1873) was an English zoologist who worked for most of his life in India as a curator of zoology at the Asiatic Society, Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta.
He set about updating the museum ...
in 1841 for wild sheep in the
Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, several wild sheep were described that are considered mouflon
subspecies
In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
today:
* ''Ovis ophion'' by Blyth in 1841 for wild sheep in Cyprus;
[
* ''Ovis laristanica'' by Nikolai Nasonov in 1909 for wild sheep in Lar in southern Iran;
* ''Ovis orientalis isphahanica'' by Nasonov in 1910 for wild sheep in the ]Zagros Mountains
The Zagros Mountains are a mountain range in Iran, northern Iraq, and southeastern Turkey. The mountain range has a total length of . The Zagros range begins in northwestern Iran and roughly follows Iran's western border while covering much of s ...
.
Subspecies
Five mouflon subspecies
In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
are distinguished by MSW3:
* Armenian mouflon (Armenian red sheep), ''O. g. gmelini'' (Blyth, 1851): nominate subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. ...
; native to northwestern Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
, Armenia
Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...
, and Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...
. It has been introduced to Texas in the U.S.
* Esfahan mouflon, ''O. g. isphahanica'' (Nasonov, 1910): Zagros Mountains
The Zagros Mountains are a mountain range in Iran, northern Iraq, and southeastern Turkey. The mountain range has a total length of . The Zagros range begins in northwestern Iran and roughly follows Iran's western border while covering much of s ...
, Iran.
* Laristan mouflon, ''O. g. laristanica'' (Nasonov, 1909): a small subspecies, its range is restricted to some desert reserves near Lar in southern Iran.
* Cyprus mouflon, ''O. g. ophion'' (Blyth, 1841): also called ''agrino'' (from the Greek ); nearly driven to extinction during the 20th century. In 1997, about 1,200 individuals were counted. The television show '' Born to Explore with Richard Wiese'' reported 3,000 individuals on Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
.
* Anatolian mouflon, ''O. g. anatolica'' (Arıhan, 2000), an almost extinct population of mouflon that nowadays hen?survives only in the region of Konya, Turkey
The European mouflon
The European mouflon is a feral subspecies of the primitive Sheep, domestic sheep. It is found in Europe and western Asia. It is originally from western Asia.
Description
Male mouflon are known as rams and the females as ewes. The young ...
was once thought to be a subspecies of the mouflon, but is now considered to be a feral descendant of the domestic sheep (''Ovis aries''), as ''Ovis aries musimon''.
Relation to other sheep
Based on comparison of mitochondrial cytochrome b
Cytochrome b is a protein found in the membranes of aerobic cells. In eukaryotic mitochondria (inner membrane) and in aerobic prokaryotes, cytochrome b is a component of respiratory chain complex III () — also known as the bc1 complex or ubiq ...
gene sequences, three groups of sheep (''Ovis
''Ovis'' is a genus of mammals, part of the Caprinae subfamily of the ruminant family (biology), family Bovidae. Its seven highly sociable species are known as sheep or ovines. Domestic sheep are members of the genus, and are thought to be des ...
'') have been identified: Pachyceriforms of Siberia ( snow sheep) and North America ( bighorn and Dall sheep), Argaliforms (argali
The argali (''Ovis ammon''), also known as the mountain sheep, is a wild ovis, sheep native to the highlands of western East Asia, the Himalayas, Tibet, and the Altai Mountains.
Description
The name 'argali' is the Mongolian language, Mongolian ...
) of Central Asia, and Moufloniforms ( urial, mouflon, and 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 ...
) of Eurasia.[Bunch, Wu, Zhang, Wang (2005). "Phylogenetic analysis of the snow sheep (''Ovis nivicola'') and closely related taxa", ''Journal of Heredity'', 97 (1) 21–30]
/ref> However, a comparison of the mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...
control region (CR) found that two subspecies of urial, ''Ovis vignei'' (or ''orientalis'') ''arkal'' and ''O. v./o. bochariensis'', grouped with two different clades of argali (''Ovis ammon'').
The ancestral sheep is presumed to have had 60 chromosome
A chromosome is a package of DNA containing part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes, the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with nucleosome-forming packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells, the most import ...
s, as in goats (''Capra''). Mouflon and domestic sheep have 54 chromosomes, with three pairs (1+3, 2+8, 5+11) of ancestral acrocentric chromosomes joined to form bi-armed chromosomes. This is in contrast to the argali and urial, which have 56 and 58 chromosomes respectively. If the urial is as closely related to the mouflons as mitochondrial DNA indicates, then two chromosomes would need to have split during its evolution away from the mouflon (sub)species.
Description
Mouflon have reddish to dark brown, short-haired coats with dark back stripes and black ventral areas and light-colored saddle patches. The males are horned; some females are horned, while others are polled. The horns of mature rams are curved almost one full revolution (up to 85 cm). Mouflon have shoulder heights of around 0.9 m and body weights of 50 kg (males) and 35 kg (females).
Distribution and habitat
Mouflon are found in the Lesser Caucasus in southeastern Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and in Iran's western Alborz region and the Zagros Mountains
The Zagros Mountains are a mountain range in Iran, northern Iraq, and southeastern Turkey. The mountain range has a total length of . The Zagros range begins in northwestern Iran and roughly follows Iran's western border while covering much of s ...
spanning eastern Iraq and western Iran. They were possibly introduced to Cyprus during the Neolithic
The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
period.
Behaviour and ecology
Reproduction
Mouflon rams have a strict dominance hierarchy. Before mating season or "rut", which is from late autumn to early winter, rams try to create a dominance hierarchy to determine access to ewes (female mouflon) for mating. Mouflon rams fight one another to obtain dominance and win an opportunity to mate with females. Mouflons reach sexual maturity at the age of two to four years. Young rams need to obtain dominance before they get a chance to mate, which takes another three years. Mouflon ewes also go through a similar hierarchy process in terms of social status in the first two years, but can breed even at low status. Pregnancy in females lasts five months, in which they produce one to two offspring.
A mouflon was cloned successfully in early 2001, and lived at least seven months, making it the first clone of an endangered mammal to survive beyond infancy. This demonstrated that a common species (in this case, a domestic sheep) can successfully become a surrogate for the birth of an exotic animal such as the mouflon. If cloning of the mouflon can proceed successfully, it has the potential to reduce strain on the number of living specimens.
Conservation
The mouflon is protected in Armenia and Azerbaijan. In Turkey and Iran, hunting is only allowed with a special license. The population in Cyprus is listed as a strictly protected species in the Habitats Directive of the European Union and has been listed in CITES Appendix I since November 2019.[
]
In culture
The male mouflon is called ''Mufro'' in Corsica, and the female ''Mufra''; the French naturalist Buffon (1707–1788) rendered this in French as '. In Sardinia, the male is called ''Murvoni'', and the female ''Murva'', though it is not unusual to hear the peasants style both indiscriminately ''Mufion'', which is a palpable corruption of the Greek ''Ophion''.
* The mouflon was the logo of Cyprus Airways until 2015, and is depicted on the 1-, 2-, and 5-cent Cypriot euro coins.
* The mouflon is featured on the historical flag of the Armenian kingdom of Syunik, and on tombstones.
* The mouflon is the symbol and the nickname of the Cyprus national rugby union team.
* The mouflon is the official mascot of Craghoppers, the UK outdoor clothing manufacturer.
See also
* Castlemilk Moorit
* Urial
References
External links
{{Authority control
Ovis
Mammals of Azerbaijan
Mammals of the Middle East
Mammals of Turkey
Caucasus
Fauna of Iran
Mammals described in 1841
Taxa named by Edward Blyth
Habitats Directive species