THE MOUFLON
(Ovis musimon)
THE mouflon, or muflon, is the only wild sheep inhabiting Europe, where it is restricted at the present day to the mountains of Corsica and Sardinia. In former times it doubtless had a more extensive range, and there are reports of its occurrence within the historical period in Greece and the Balearic Islands. It is likewise reported to have once inhabited the mountain ranges of central Spain.
Like all wild sheep, the mouflon has a hairy coat, while its tail is short and deer-like, as in the small domesticated sheep of Soa and other Hebridean islands, of which it is probably the ancestor. The woolly fleece and long tail of many domesticated breeds must accordingly be regarded as features due to careful selection; and in this connection it is important to notice that some of the domesticated sheep of Africa, as well of the East, possess hairy coats like their wild ancestors.
The general colour of the mouflon, like that of so many ruminants, is of a protective nature, being dark above and white beneath, with a white rump-patch as a signal-mark for the members of the flock when in flight. In accordance with the nature of its surroundings, the mouflon has a darker and more rufous coat than the gazelle; but old rams have a whitish saddle-patch on the back in the winter coat. In their native haunts these sheep are stated to be very difficult to detect. The white streaks on the face so characteristic of the gazelles are wanting, but the dark flank-band dividing the fawn of the back from the white of the belly is a feature common to mouflon and many species of gazelles.
In height the mouflon ram stands only about 27 inches, so that the species is one of the smallest of the wild sheep. The horns of the rams usually curve forwards on the sides of the face; the right horn thus forming a right-handed spiral, andvice versa. In some Sardinian rams, however, there is an alteration in the direction of the upper part of the spiral, so that the horns curve backwards over the neck, instead of forwards by the sides of the face. The ewes of the Sardinian mouflon appear to be generally, if not invariably, hornless; but some Corsican females, at any rate, carry small horns; and it may be that the presence or absence of horns in this sex forms a distinction between the races respectively inhabiting the two islands.
mouflon
Mouflon are found only in certain parts of the mountains of Sardinia and Corsica; and when in repose usually resort to high peaks or ridges whence a wide view can be obtained. Moreover, they frequently select situations where currentsof air from two different situations combine, and they are then absolutely unapproachable by the sportsman. In much of the ground they frequent, the valleys are filled with a thick growth of ilex; while they feed on the hills amid abundant heather, which affords admirable covert for the approach of the stalker.
In the pairing-season, which takes place during December and January, the old rams, like the males of most ruminants, engage in fierce combats for the possession of the females. The ewes give birth to their one or two lambs during April and May; and these, like the lambs of domesticated sheep, are able to run with their mothers at a very early age. When the rams are in good condition, mouflon-mutton, if hung long enough, is excellent for the table.
In Cyprus, Asia Minor, and Persia the mouflon is replaced by the red sheep (Ovis orientalis), a redder and, in the case of some races, larger species, often with a fringe of blackish hair on the throat of the old males, and the horns in that sex always curving backwards behind the neck. The race of this species inhabiting the Troödos mountains of Cyprus is smaller than the rest.
Farther east, namely, in the Kopet Dagh range dividing Persia from Turkestan, the red sheep gives place to the well-known urial (O. vignei), in which there is a long white throat-fringe to the old rams, whose horns curve forwards by the sides of the face. This species ranges through Baluchistan and Afghanistan to the Salt Range of the Punjab, and thence along the ranges flanking the Indus into Ladak and Tibet.
In the Altai and Tibet, together with other parts of central Asia, we reach the country of the great argali sheep (O. ammon), with its numerous races; while in the Yana Valley of Siberia and in Kamchatka we first meet with the so-called bighorns (O. canadensis), of which the typical race is North American. One peculiar species (Ammotragus lervia) inhabits the north of Africa, but in the rest of that continent, as also in peninsular India, the Malay countries, and South America, wild sheep are unknown.