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The mouflon (''Ovis gmelini'') is a wild sheep native to
Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...
, the
Caspian Caspian can refer to: *The Caspian Sea *The Caspian Depression, surrounding the northern part of the Caspian Sea *The Caspians, the ancient people living near the Caspian Sea * Caspian languages, collection of languages and dialects of Caspian p ...
region from eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran. It is thought to be the ancestor of all modern
domestic sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals 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 domesticate ...
breeds.


Taxonomy

''Ovis gmelini'' was the scientific name proposed by
Edward Blyth Edward Blyth (23 December 1810 – 27 December 1873) was an English zoologist who worked for most of his life in India as a curator of zoology at the museum of the Asiatic Society of India in Calcutta. Blyth was born in London in 1810. In 1841 ...
in 1841 for wild sheep in the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
. In the 19th and 20th centuries, several wild sheep were described that are considered mouflon subspecies today: * ''Ovis ophion'' by Blyth in 1841 for wild sheep in
Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...
; * ''Ovis laristanica'' by
Nikolai Nasonov Nikolai Viktorovich Nasonov (russian: Николай Викторович Насонов; 14 February 1855 – 11 February 1939) was a Russian zoologist. In 1879 he graduated from the Imperial Moscow University and became an assistant at its Zoo ...
in 1909 for wild sheep in
Lar Lar or LAR may refer to: Places ;India * Lar, Uttar Pradesh, a town in Deoria District * Lar (Jammu and Kashmir), a town * Lata (region), also known as Lar, former region of southern Gujarat ;Iran * Lar, Iran, a city in Fars Province * Lar, Ea ...
in southern Iran; * ''Ovis orientalis isphahanica'' by Nasonov in 1910 for wild sheep in the
Zagros Mountains The Zagros Mountains ( ar, جبال زاغروس, translit=Jibal Zaghrus; fa, کوه‌های زاگرس, Kuh hā-ye Zāgros; ku, چیاکانی زاگرۆس, translit=Çiyakani Zagros; Turkish: ''Zagros Dağları''; Luri: ''Kuh hā-ye Zāgro ...
.


Subspecies

Five mouflon subspecies of are distinguished by MSW3: * Armenian mouflon (Armenian red sheep), ''O. g. gmelini'' (Blyth, 1851):
nominate subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all spec ...
; native to northwestern
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...
,
Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ...
, and
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
. It has been introduced to Texas in the U.S. * Esfahan mouflon, ''O. g. isphahanica'' (Nasonov, 1910):
Zagros Mountains The Zagros Mountains ( ar, جبال زاغروس, translit=Jibal Zaghrus; fa, کوه‌های زاگرس, Kuh hā-ye Zāgros; ku, چیاکانی زاگرۆس, translit=Çiyakani Zagros; Turkish: ''Zagros Dağları''; Luri: ''Kuh hā-ye Zāgro ...
, Iran. *
Laristan mouflon Larestan County ( fa, شهرستان لارستان) is located in Fars province, Iran. The capital of the county is Lar. At the 2006 census, the county's population (including those portions of the county later split off to form Evaz County ...
, ''O. g. laristanica'' (Nasonov, 1909): a small subspecies, its range is restricted to some desert reserves near
Lar Lar or LAR may refer to: Places ;India * Lar, Uttar Pradesh, a town in Deoria District * Lar (Jammu and Kashmir), a town * Lata (region), also known as Lar, former region of southern Gujarat ;Iran * Lar, Iran, a city in Fars Province * Lar, Ea ...
in southern Iran. *
Cyprus mouflon Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
, ''O. g. ophion'' (Blyth, 1841): also called ''agrino'' (from the Greek ); nearly driven to extinction during the 20th century. In 1997, about 1,200 individuals were counted. The television show '' Born to Explore with Richard Wiese'' reported 3,000 individuals on
Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...
. The European mouflon was once thought to be a subspecies of the mouflon, but is now considered to be a feral descendant of the domestic sheep (''Ovis aries''), as ''Ovis aries musimon''.


Relation to other sheep

Based on comparison of mitochondrial
cytochrome b Cytochrome b within both molecular and cell biology, is a protein found in the mitochondria of eukaryotic cells. It functions as part of the electron transport chain and is the main subunit of transmembrane cytochrome bc1 and b6f complexes. ...
gene sequences, three groups of sheep ('' Ovis'') have been identified: Pachyceriforms of Siberia ( snow sheep) and North America ( bighorn and Dall sheep), Argaliforms ( argali) of Central Asia, and Moufloniforms ( urial, mouflon, and
domestic sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals 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 domesticate ...
) of Eurasia.Bunch, Wu, Zhang, Wang (2005). "Phylogenetic analysis of the snow sheep (''Ovis nivicola'') and closely related taxa", ''Journal of Heredity'', 97 (1) 21–30

/ref> However, a comparison of the mitochondrial DNA control region (CR) found that two subspecies of urial, ''Ovis vignei'' (or ''orientalis'') ''arkal'' and ''O. v./o. bochariensis'', grouped with two different clades of argali (''Ovis ammon''). The ancestral sheep is presumed to have had 60
chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins ar ...
s, as in goats (''Capra''). Mouflon and domestic sheep have 54 chromosomes, with three pairs (1+3, 2+8, 5+11) of ancestral acrocentric chromosomes joined to form bi-armed chromosomes. This is in contrast to the argali and urial, which have 56 and 58 chromosomes respectively. If the urial is as closely related to the mouflons as mitochondrial DNA indicates, then two chromosomes would need to have split during its evolution away from the mouflon (sub)species.


Description

Mouflon have reddish to dark brown, short-haired coats with dark back stripes and black ventral areas and light-colored saddle patches. The males are horned; some females are horned, while others are polled. The horns of mature rams are curved almost one full revolution (up to 85 cm). Mouflon have shoulder heights of around 0.9 m and body weights of 50 kg (males) and 35 kg (females).


Distribution and habitat

The mouflon occurs in the
Lesser Caucasus The Lesser Caucasus, also called Caucasus Minor, is the second of the two main mountain ranges of Caucasus mountains, of length about . The western portion of the Lesser Caucasus overlaps and converges with east Turkey and northwest Iran. It ru ...
in southeastern
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
,
Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ...
and
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
, as well as in
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...
's western
Alborz The Alborz ( fa, البرز) range, also spelled as Alburz, Elburz or Elborz, is a mountain range in northern Iran that stretches from the border of Azerbaijan along the western and entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea and finally runs ...
region and the
Zagros Mountains The Zagros Mountains ( ar, جبال زاغروس, translit=Jibal Zaghrus; fa, کوه‌های زاگرس, Kuh hā-ye Zāgros; ku, چیاکانی زاگرۆس, translit=Çiyakani Zagros; Turkish: ''Zagros Dağları''; Luri: ''Kuh hā-ye Zāgro ...
spanning across eastern
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
and western Iran. It was possibly introduced to
Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...
during the
Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several part ...
period.


Behaviour and ecology


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 obtain dominance and win an opportunity to mate with females. Mouflons reach sexual maturity at the age of 2 to 4 years. Young rams need to obtain 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, but can breed even at low status. Pregnancy in females lasts 5 months, in which they produce one to two offspring. 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. This demonstrated that 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.


Conservation

The mouflon is protected in Armenia and Azerbaijan. In Turkey and Iran, hunting is only allowed with a special license. The population in Cyprus is listed as a strictly protected species in the
Habitats Directive The Habitats Directive (more formally known as Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora) is a directive adopted by the European Community in 1992 as a response to the Berne Convention. The ...
of the European Union and has been listed in CITES Appendix I since November 2019.


In culture

The wild sheep of Corsica were locally called ''mufro'' (male) and ''mufra'' (female). The French naturalist Buffon (1707–1788) rendered this in French as '. The male mouflon is denominated in Corsica ''Mufro'', and the female ''Mufra'', from which the word ''Moufflon'' was formed; in Sardinia, the male is called ''Murvoni'', and the female ''Murva'', though it is not unusual to hear the peasants style both indiscriminately ''Mufion'', which is a palpable corruption of the Greek ''Ophion''. * 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 on the historical flag of the
Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ...
n kingdom of Syunik, as well as on tombstones. * The mouflon is featured both on the symbol and as the nickname of the Cyprus national rugby union team.


See also

*
Castlemilk Moorit The Castlemilk Moorit is a rare breed of domestic sheep (also known as Moorit Shetland, Milledge Sheep, or Castlemilk Shetland ) originating in Dumfriesshire in Scotland. Created as a decorative breed in the 1900s to adorn the parkland of S ...
* Urial


References

{{Authority control Ovis Mammals of Azerbaijan Mammals of the Middle East Mammals of Turkey Caucasus Fauna of Iran Mammals described in 1841 Taxa named by Edward Blyth