I.

Introduction

Sheep, common name for a collection of grazing mammals that may be either wild or domesticated; the domesticated varieties are the most widely distributed kind of domestic animal, found in nearly all countries. Wild species are found in some areas of the world: the bighorn in western North America; Dall sheep in northern Canada and Alaska; the mouflon in Mediterranean countries; the Asian mouflon in western Asia; the urial Afghanistan and Pakistan; and the argali in eastern Asia.

Sheep were probably domesticated about 11,000 years ago in what is now northern Iraq, and they are thought to have descended primarily from the mouflon, although recent evidence suggests that species such as the Asian mouflon contributed to some of the modern breeds.