Sheep = Ovis Aries
Started this thinking how seaweed eating sheep are cool. Now more sheep are cool. More articles to come. This page will change. Only Scottish sheep so far, unless they are expats.
Soay Sheep – One of the most primitive European Sheep.
Soay are a Bronze Age transplant to the island of Soay. They were later used to populate Hirta. Both are islands in the St. Kilda archipelago. Apparently lack flocking instinct, kinda neat (Fleming., 2021). Prey animals use flock or flock mentality as protection from predators. However, Hirta is an island, and the sheep have no predators here. I assume these sheep flocks remain unmanaged; because, researchers conduct population ecology and evolution research through the Soay Sheep Project.
- Ongoing research spanning Population ecology, Vegetation, Evolution and genetics, Parasites and immunology, and aging on Hirta of feral Soay sheep. https://soaysheep.bio.ed.ac.uk
- Fleming, Andrew. (2021). Soay Sheep: The Back-story. Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 31. 419-436. 10.1017/S095977432100007X.
North Ronaldsay Sheep – Eat seaweed, sometimes grass but mostly seaweed.
Here is a funny thread with vivid imagery and words.
Sheep of North Ronaldsay were confined to the beaches, developed an adaption for copper absorption, then survived. Miraculous. The adaption cannot be viewed with rose colored glasses. Survivability is affected by serious weather, liver inflammation, increased dental decay and grass consumption. Yes, grass consumption can be fatal. They have earned their place.
Quick note on Finn-Dorset Sheep.
Enough said. Congratulations dolly, against your will you became two. Serious and a joke, because the will of a sheep.
Boreray Blackface Sheep
Existing on Boreray in St. Kilda, Iron Age plants. Boreray or Boraraigh, assuming Boraraigh is Gaelic, not certain.
Aidan Cole 
One thought on “Cool Sheep”