The yak, also known as the Tartary ox, grunting ox, or hairy cattle, is a species of long-haired domesticated cattle found throughout the Himalayan region of Gilgit-Baltistan, Nepal, Sikkim (India), the Tibetan Plateau, (China), Tajikistan and as far north as Mongolia and Siberia. It is descended from the wild yak.
The subfamily Caprinae, also sometimes referred to as the tribe Caprini, is part of the ruminant family Bovidae, and consists of mostly medium-sized bovids. A member of this subfamily is called a caprine.
The Bovidae comprise the biological family of cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammals that includes cattle, yaks, bison, buffalo, antelopes, sheep and goats. A member of this family is called a bovid. With 143 extant species and 300 known extinct species, the family Bovidae consists of 11 major subfamilies and thirteen major tribes. The family evolved 20 million years ago, in the early Miocene.
The mouflon is a wild sheep native to Caspian region, including eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Iran. It is also found in Europe. It is thought to be the ancestor of all modern domestic sheep breeds.
The bighorn sheep is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns. A pair of horns may weigh up to 14 kg (30 lb); the sheep typically weigh up to 143 kg (315 lb). Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspecies of Ovis canadensis, one of which is endangered: O. c. sierrae.
Ovis dalli, also known as the Dall sheep or thinhorn sheep, is a species of wild sheep native to northwestern North America. Ovis dalli contains two subspecies: Ovis dalli dalli and Ovis dalli stonei. O. dalli live in mountainous alpine habitats distributed across northwestern British Columbia, the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Alaska. They browse a variety of plants such as grasses, sedges and even shrubs such as willow, during different times of the year. They also acquire minerals to supplement their diet from mineral licks. Like other Ovis species, the rams engage in dominance contests with their horns.
Capra is a genus of mammals, the goats, comprising ten species, including the markhor and several species known as ibexes. The domestic goat is a domesticated species derived from the bezoar ibex. Evidence of goat domestication dates back more than 8,500 years.
The takin, also called cattle chamois or gnu goat, is a large species of ungulate of the subfamily Caprinae found in the eastern Himalayas. It includes four subspecies: the Mishmi takin, the golden takin, the Tibetan takin, and the Bhutan takin.
The Soay sheep is a breed of domestic sheep descended from a population of feral sheep on the 100-hectare (250-acre) island of Soay in the St Kilda Archipelago, about 65 kilometres (40 mi) from the Western Isles of Scotland. It is one of the Northern European short-tailed sheep breeds.
The argali, also known as the mountain sheep, is a wild sheep that roams the highlands of western East Asia, the Himalayas, Tibet, and the Altai Mountains.
A sheep–goat hybrid is a hybrid between a sheep and a goat.
The Marco Polo sheep is a subspecies of argali sheep, named after Marco Polo. Their habitat are the mountainous regions of Central Asia. Marco Polo sheep are distinguishable mostly by their large size and spiraling horns. Their conservation status is "near threatened" and efforts have been made to protect their numbers and keep them from being hunted. It has also been suggested that crossing them with domestic sheep could have agricultural benefits.
Przewalski's gazelle is a member of the family Bovidae, and in the wild, is found only in China. Once widespread, its range has declined to six populations near Qinghai Lake. The gazelle was named after Nikolai Przhevalsky, a Russian explorer who collected a specimen and brought it back to St. Petersburg in 1875.
The Wiltshire Horn is a breed of domestic sheep originally from Wiltshire in southern England raised for meat. The breed is unusual among native British breeds, for it has the unusual feature of moulting its short wool and hair coat naturally in spring, obviating the need for shearing. They are good mothers and have high fertility.
The St Croix is a breed of domestic sheep native to the U.S. Virgin Islands and named for the island of Saint Croix. They are often also called Virgin Island White because those that were imported into North America were selected for white coloration. On the Island of St. Croix, they come in shades of brown, white, and black.
Domestic sheep reproduce sexually much like other mammals, and their reproductive strategy is furthermore very similar to other domestic herd animals. A flock of sheep is generally mated by a single ram, which has either been chosen by a farmer or has established dominance through physical contest with other rams. Most sheep have a breeding season (tupping) in the autumn, though some are able to breed year-round.
Sheep or domestic sheep 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 domesticated sheep. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Numbering a little over one billion, domestic sheep are also the most numerous species of sheep. An adult female is referred to as a ewe, an intact male as a ram, occasionally a tup, a castrated male as a wether, and a young sheep as a lamb.
Bovidae in Chinese mythology include various myths and legends about a group of biologically distinct animals which form important motifs within Chinese mythology. There are many myths about the animals modernly classified as Bovidae, referring to oxen, sheep, goats, and mythological types such as "unicorns". Chinese mythology refers to those myths found in the historical geographic area of China, a geographic area which has evolved or changed somewhat through history. Thus this includes myths in Chinese and other languages, as transmitted by Han Chinese as well as other ethnic groups. There are various motifs of animals of the Bovidae biological family in Chinese mythology. These have often served as allusions in poetry and other literature. Some species are also used in the traditional Chinese calendar and time-keeping system.
Goat evolution is the process by which domestic goats came to exist through evolution by natural selection. Wild goats — medium-sized mammals which are found in noticeably harsh environments, particularly forests and mountains, in the Middle East and Central Asia — were one of the first species domesticated by modern humans, with the date of domestication generally considered to be 8,000 BC. Goats are part of the family Bovidae, a broad and populous group which includes a variety of ruminants such as bison, cows and sheep. Bovids all share many traits, such as hooves and a herbivorous diet and all males, along with many females, have horns. Bovids began to diverge from deer and giraffids during the early Miocene epoch. The subfamily Caprinae, which includes goats, ibex and sheep, are considered to have diverged from the rest of Bovidae as early as the late Miocene, with the group reaching its greatest diversity in the ice ages.
Homosexual behavior in sheep has been well documented and studied. The domestic sheep is the only species of mammal except for humans which exhibits exclusive homosexual behavior. "About 10% of rams (males), refuse to mate with ewes (females) but do readily mate with other rams." Thirty percent of all rams demonstrate at least some homosexual behavior. One report on sheep found that 8% of rams exhibited homosexual preferences—that is, even when given a choice, they chose male over female partners. This documented homosexual preference has garnered much discussion. Such rams prefer to court and mount other rams only, even in the presence of estrous ewes. Moreover, around 18–22% of rams are bisexual.
