sheep evolution
Sheep Evolution People hunted wild sheep from the beginning of the Stone Age, but around the end of the Stone Age, about 10,000 BC, some people in Central Asia began to keep tame, domesticated sheep for themselves. These early sheep only had hair, like goats. ... But as people began to breed sheep to make them more useful, they began to breed them with longer hair, and gradually sheep got woollier. People also bred sheep to be much stupider than wild sheep, so they would be easier to watch over, and not try to get away. And they bred them to want to all stay together in one herd, which also made the sheep easier to watch over. Its the nature of sheep to flock together. Early man could take sheep in his travels, because they are efficient grazers, and able to survive on sparse vegetation. Sheep helped make the spread of civilization possible. ... , sheep and wool spread to Europe by way of ancient Greece. (Slide 3) During the next few thousand years, Greeks, Romans, and Persians all contributed to improvements in the breeds, but the Romans were responsible for bringing sheep to North Africa and Europe. ... Various regions had native sheep which gradually developed in particular breeds, but it was not until the 18th Century there was definite breed descriptions and illustrations. ... During the early Bronze Age period the sheep lost the pigment in its face and coat. The first fat-tail sheep was depicted as early as 2000 B. ... (Slide 4) The first fat-tailed sheep into Australia arrived in 1788 with the First Fleet, while the first merino arrived in 1797 with only 13 sheep being purchased from the Spanish. George Washington raised sheep on his Mount Vernon estate. ... In the early 1800s, the United States imported Merino sheep from Spain. In the middle of the 19th century, pioneers seeking new lands in western and northwestern United States brought sheep with them.