Karakul or Qaraqul (named after Qorakoʻl, a city in

Bukhara Region Bukhara Region (Buxoro Region) ( uz, Buxoro viloyati/Бухоро вилояти, بۇحارا ۋىلايەتى, russian: Бухарская область) is a region of Uzbekistan located in the southwest of the country. The Kyzyl Kum desert t ...

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...

) is a breed of 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 domesticated ...

which originated in

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

. Some archaeological evidence points to Karakul sheep being raised there continuously since 1400 BC. Hailing from the desert regions of

, Karakul sheep are renowned for their ability to

forage Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used ...

and thrive under extremely harsh living conditions. They can survive severe

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

conditions because of a special quality they have, storing fat in their tails. Karakul are also raised in large numbers in

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

, having first been brought there by German colonists in the early 20th century. They are currently listed as endangered.

Use by humans

Karakul sheep are a multi-purpose breed, kept for

milking Milking is the act of removing milk from the mammary glands of cattle, water buffalo, humans, goats, sheep, and, more rarely, camels, horses and donkeys. Milking may be done by hand or by machine, and requires the animal to be currently or rec ...

, meat, pelts, and

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...

. As a fat-tailed breed, they have a distinctive meat. Many adult Karakul are double-coated; in this case,

spinner Technology *Spinner (aeronautics), the aerodynamic cone at the hub of an aircraft propeller * Spinner (cell culture), laboratory equipment for cultivating plant or mammalian cells * Spinner (computing), a graphical widget in a GUI * Spinner (MIT Med ...

s separate the coarse guard hair from the undercoat. Karakul is a relatively coarse fiber used for outer garments,

carpet A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fibers such as polypropylene, nylon, or polyester hav ...

s and for

felting Felt is a textile material that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic or acrylonitrile or wood pu ...

. The meat from the sheep, and especially the fat from the tail end, is an important ingredient in

Uzbek cuisine Uzbek cuisine shares the culinary traditions of peoples across Central Asia. There is a great deal of grain farming in Uzbekistan, so breads and noodles are of importance, and Uzbek cuisine has been characterized as "noodle-rich". Mutton is a pop ...

Karakul pelts

Very young or even fetal Karakul lambs are prized for pelts. Newborn karakul sheep pelts are called karakul (also spelled ''caracul''), ''swakara ''(portmanteau of ''South West Africa Karakul''), ''astrakhan'' (Russian and French), ''Persian lamb'', ''agnello di Persia'' (Italian), ''krimmer'' (Russian) and ''garaköli bagana'' (Turkmen). Sometimes the terms for newborn lambs' and fetal lambs' pelts are used interchangeably. The newborn lambs have a tight, curly pattern of hair. The lambs must be under three days old when they are killed, or they will lose their black color and soft, tightly wound coils of fur. Dark colors are dominant and lambs often darken in color as they age. Fetal karakul lamb pelts are called broadtail, ''Breitschwanz'' (German), and ''karakulcha''. Fetal karakul lambs are harvested through miscarriages, induced early delivery or by killing the mother sheep and removing the fetus. Rather than killing healthy female sheep, farmers will kill older sheep that have already given birth many times. People use the lamb pelts to create various clothing items, such as the

Astrakhan Astrakhan ( rus, Астрахань, p=ˈastrəxənʲ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in Southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the ...

karakul hat A Karakul hat (Dari/Urdu/Pashto/ Uzbek/ Kashmiri: ), sometimes spelled as Qaraqul hat, also called Uzbek hat and Jinnah Cap is a hat made from the fur of the Qaraqul breed of sheep. Karakul directly translates to black fur in the Uzbek language a ...

. The pelts have also been used in haute couture.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Sheep breeds Sheep breeds originating in Uzbekistan Animal breeds on the GEH Red List