Scientific American Supplement, No. 1178, June 25, 1898Various
History
Scientific American Supplement, No. 1178, June 25, 1898
Various
Science -- Periodicals
Former authorities have been unwilling to admit that the domestic
sheep have come from any species of wild sheep of the present time.
They hold that they are the descendants of one or more species of wild
sheep that are now extinct. Recently, however, men have thought more
deeply and freely on such subjects, and Nehring and others have traced
the modern tame sheep back to the mouflon, but not to him alone. It is
thought that in this case, as with other domestic animals, there has
been a mixture of species, and in this connection attention was
directed to the Transcaspian arkal, the argalis of the interior of
Asia and the North African species. Dr. Heck, director of the Berlin
Zoological Garden, thinks that the horns of the tame ram, which are
turned outward, the points being directed away from the body,
constitute one of the strongest proofs that the blood of the argalis
and its extinct European ancestors—which are known only by the fossil
remains—flows in the veins of all domestic sheep.
The other characteristic marks of the domestic sheep—the wool and the
length of the tail—vary greatly. The heath sheep—the little,
contented, weather-hardened grazing sheep of the Lüneburg and other
heaths—belong to one of the oldest species, and their tails are as
short and their horns as dark as those of the moufflon. A cross
between these two breeds is not distinguishable, even in the second
generation, as has been shown by the interesting experiments in the
Düsseldorf Zoological Garden.
HEATH SHEEP.
The little, black and red-spotted Cameroons sheep, from the western
coast of Africa, have not a trace of wool. But why should they have?
The negroes need no clothing, and, consequently, they have not bred
sheep with wool; and, besides, such an animal could not live in the
tropics, even if the black man were a much better stock raiser and
breeder than he is. The mane on the neck, and breast of the Cameroons
ram reminds one of the North American sheep; but it must be remembered
that the mouflon and arkal rams have this ornament quite clearly,
although not so strongly defined.
CAMEROONS SHEEP.
The large, short-bodied and long-legged sheep found in the interior of
western and northern Africa are a complete contrast to the
short-legged, long-bodied little Cameroons sheep. There is a very
valuable pair of the former in the Berlin Zoological Garden—the
Haussa sheep—which are very regularly marked, the front parts of
their bodies being red and the hind parts white. They were brought
from the neighborhood of Say, on the middle Niger, by the Togo
Hinterland expedition. The ram has beautiful horns, and the ewe is
distinguished by two strange, tassel-like pendants of skin that hang
from her neck. This zoological garden also possesses a fine ram from
the interior of Tunis, which is similar in shape to the Haussa ram,
but has shorter horns and a heavier mane. Its color is grayish black.
HAUSSA RAM.
HAUSSA EWE.
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