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Mouflon

Mouflon in the Buffalo Zoo

Conservation status

Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Artiodactyla

Family: Bovidae

Subfamily: Caprinae

Genus: Ovis

Species: Ovis orientalis

Binomial name

Ovis orientalis

Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms

Ovis aries

Ovis musimon

Ovis gmelini

MouflonFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The mouflon (Ovis orientalis orientalis[1] group) is a

subspecies group of the wild sheep (Ovis orientalis).

Populations of O. orientalis can be partitioned into the

mouflons (orientalis group) and the urials (vignei group).[1]The mouflon is thought to be one of the two ancestors for all

modern domestic sheep breeds.[2][3]

Contents

1 Description

2 Range3 Subspecies

4 Mouflon in culture

5 Reproduction

6 See also

7 References

8 Further reading

9 External links

Description

Mouflon have red-brown, short-haired coats with dark back-

stripes and light-colored saddle patches. The males are

horned; some females are horned, while others are polled.

The horns of mature rams are curved in almost one full

revolution (up to 85 cm). Mouflon have shoulder heights of 

about 0.9 m and body weights of 50 kg (males) and 35 kg

(females).[4]

Range

Today, mouflon inhabit the Caucasus, northern and eastern

Iraq, and northwestern Iran. The range originally stretched

further to Anatolia, the Crimean peninsula and the Balkans,

where they had already disappeared 3,000 years ago.

Mouflon were introduced to the islands of Corsica, Sardinia,

Rhodes, and Cyprus during the neolithic period, perhaps as

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A European mouflon male in the

German forest

Mouflon ram

Ewe

feral domesticated animals, where they have naturalized in the mountainous interiors of these islands

over the past few thousand years, giving rise to the subspecies known as European mouflon (O. aries

musimon).

On the island of Cyprus, the mouflon or agrino became a

different and endemic species only found there, the Cyprus

mouflon (O. o. ophion). The Cyprus mouflon population contains

only about 3000 animals. They are now rare on the islands, but

are classified as feral animals by the IUCN.[5] They were later

successfully introduced into continental Europe, including Spain,

France, Germany, central Italy, Switzerland, Austria, the

Netherlands, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia,

Slovenia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, the Canary Islands, and

even some northern European countries such as Denmark,

Sweden and Finland.

A small colony exists in the remote Kerguelen Islands in the

southern Indian Ocean, and on the Veliki Brijun Island in theBrijuni Archipelago of the Istrian Peninsula in Croatia. In South

America, mouflon have been introduced into central Chile and

Argentina.[6] Since the 1980s, they have also been successfully

introduced to game ranches in North America for the purpose of 

hunting; however, on game ranches, purebreds are rare, as

mouflon interbreed with domestic sheep and bighorn sheep.

Mouflon have been introduced into the Hawaiian islands of 

Lanai and Hawaii as game animals, and a small population

escaped from an animal enclosure owned by Thomas Watson, Jr.

on the island of North Haven, Maine in the 1990s and still survive there.

Their normal habitats are steep mountainous woods near tree lines. In winter, they migrate to lower

altitudes.[4]

Subspecies

The scientific classification of the mouflon is disputed.[7] Five

subspecies of mouflon are distinguished by MSW3:[1]

The Iranian red sheep or Armenian mouflon, Ovis orientalis

gmelini (Blyth, 1851), northwestern Iran, eastern and central

Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. It has been introduced in

Texas, USA.

The European mouflon, O. o. musimon (Pallas, 1811) was

introduced about 7,000 years ago in Corsica and Sardinia for

the first time. It has since been introduced in many parts of 

Europe.

The Cypriot mouflon, O. o. ophion (Blyth, 1841), also called agrino, from the Greek Αγρινό was

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nearly extirpated during the 20th century. In 1997, about 1,200 of this subspecies were counted.

The television show Born to Explore with Richard Wiese reported 3,000 are now on Cyprus.

The Esfahan mouflon, O. o. isphahanica (Nasonov, 1910), is from the Zagros Mountains, Iran.

The Laristan mouflon, O. o. laristanica (Nasonov, 1909), is a small subspecies; its range is

restricted to some desert reserves near Lar in southern Iran.

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.[8][9][10] This demonstrated 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.

Mouflon in culture

The mouflon were mentioned to be on Lincoln Island in Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island .

The mouflon is featured on the symbol of Cyprus Airways, as well as on the 1-, 2-, and 5-cent

Cypriot euro coins.

The mouflon is featured both on the symbol and as the nickname of the Cyprus national rugby

union team.

The mouflon is featured on the historic flag of the Armenian kingdom of Syunik, as well as on the

tombstones.

The similarity of the mouflon to domestic sheep, combined with its threatened status, has made it

a subject of interest, both scientific and popular, in the use of biotechnology in species

preservation.[11]

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 prove their dominance and get opportunity to

mate with females. Mouflons reach sexual maturity at the age of 2 to 4 years. Young rams need to prove

dominance before they get a chance to mate, which takes another 3 years for them to start mating.

Mouflon ewes also go through a similar hierarchy process, in terms of social status in the first 2 years.

Pregnancy in females lasts 5 months, in which they produce 1 to 2 offspring.

See also

Castlemilk Moorit

References

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Further reading

V. G. Heptner: Mammals of the Sowjetunion Vol. I Ungulates. Leiden, New York, 1989. ISBN 90-

1. ^ a b c Wilson, Don E.; Reeder, DeeAnn M. (2005). Mammal Species of the World A Taxonomic and 

Geographic Reference (http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/biology/resources/msw3/browse.asp?

s=y&id=14200825) (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-8221-4.

2. ^ Hiendleder, S; Kaupe, B; Wassmuth, R; Janke, A (2002). "Molecular analysis of wild and domestic sheep

questions current nomenclature and provides evidence for domestication from two different subspecies"

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1690972). Proceedings. Biological sciences / the Royal

Society 269 (1494): 893–904. doi:10.1098/rspb.2002.1975 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1098%2Frspb.2002.1975).PMC 1690972 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1690972). PMID 12028771

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12028771).

3. ^ Hiendleder, S.; Mainz, K.; Plante, Y.; Lewalski, H. (1998). "Analysis of mitochondrial DNA indicates that

domestic sheep are derived from two different ancestral maternal sources: No evidence for contributions

from urial and argali sheep". Journal of Heredity 89 (2): 113–20. doi:10.1093/jhered/89.2.113

(http://dx.doi.org/10.1093%2Fjhered%2F89.2.113). PMID 9542158

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9542158).

4. ^ a b MacDonald, David; Priscilla Barret (1993). Mammals of Britain & Europe 1. London: HarperCollins.

pp. 220–221. ISBN 0-00-219779-0.

5. ^ International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (April 2009). "IUCN Red List of 

Threatened Species" (http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/full/15739/0). IUCN. Retrieved 2009.

More specifically, in the island of Cyprus they became a new endemic species only found there, the "Cyprus

mouflon" (Ovis orientalis ophion)

6. ^ "Mouflon hunting in Chile and Argentina" (http://www.huntingchile16.50megs.com/about_11.html).

7. ^ Tonda, J. (2002). "Ovis ammon"

(http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Ovis_ammon.html). Animal Diversity

Web. Retrieved November 19, 2005.

8. ^ Loi, P; Ptak, G; Barboni, B; Fulka Jr, J; Cappai, P; Clinton, M (2001). "Genetic rescue of an endangered

mammal by cross-species nuclear transfer using post-mortem somatic cells". Nature biotechnology 19 (10):

962–4. doi:10.1038/nbt1001-962 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1038%2Fnbt1001-962). PMID 11581663

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11581663).

9. ^ Trivedi, Bijal P. (2001). "Scientists Clone First Endangered Species: a Wild Sheep"

(http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/10/1025_TVsheepclone.html). National Geographic Today.

Retrieved February 21, 2006.

10. ^ Winstead E (October 12, 2001). "Endangered wild sheep clone reported to be healthy"

(http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/10_01/cloned_sheep.shtml). Genome News Network.

Retrieved April 10, 2007.

11. ^  E.g. Ptak, G; Clinton, M; Barboni, B; Muzzeddu, M; Cappai, P; Tischner, M; Loi, P (2002). "Preservation

of the wild European mouflon: The first example of genetic management using a complete program of 

reproductive biotechnologies". Biology of reproduction 66 (3): 796–801. doi:10.1095/biolreprod66.3.796

(http://dx.doi.org/10.1095%2Fbiolreprod66.3.796). PMID 11870088

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11870088).

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Wikispecies has

information related to: Ovis

aries musimon

Wikimedia Commons has

media related to Ovis

orientalis.

Wikimedia Commons has

media related to Ovis

musimon.

04-08874-1.

External links

Developing New Strategies to Manage Mouflon (Ovis

gmelini musimon) in Hawaii

(http://ecosystems.usgs.gov/invasive/Mouflonhighlight.html)

Sheep and mouflon: Like goats, converting native ecosystems to weeds and dust

(http://www.rarehawaii.org/sheeppage/sheep.htm) (Hawaii)

Barbary sheep in Sahara (http://saharanature.wordpress.com/)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mouflon&oldid=639664033"

Categories: IUCN Red List vulnerable species Animals described in 1758 Fauna of Iran

Fauna of Italy Invasive mammal species Mammals of Europe Mammals of Azerbaijan

Mammals of Iraq Mammals of Southwest Asia Megafauna of Eurasia Ovis

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