Ovis gmelini Blyth 1841
Creators: name: Don E. Wilson
name: Russell A. Mittermeier
Publisher: name: Lynx Edicions
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Artiodactyla
Bovidae
Ovis
Ovis gmelini

description: 188.
Anatolian Sheep
Ovis gmelini
French: Mouflon d’Arménie / German: Armenien-Wildschaf / Spanish: Muflén de Anatolia
Other common names: Armenian Wild Sheep, Red Sheep; Mouflon (feral form)
Taxonomy. Ovis gmelini Blyth, 1841,
Erzerum, Asia Minor (Turkey).
Sheep taxonomy is controversial; the Anatolian Sheep, the Isfahan Sheep (O. isphahanica), and the Laristan Sheep (O. laristanica) were usually formerly classified as subspecies of O. orientalis, a classification also adopted by IUCN. However, the name orientalis is based on a hybrid population and is not useable. There is a hybrid zone in the central Alborz Mountains of north-central Iran where Anatolian Sheep and Afghan Urials (O. cycloceros) are sympatric. This has been verified by chromosomal and molecular genetic studies. It is probably the species from which domestic sheep (O. aries), as well as the feral sheep known as “Mouflon” on Cyprus, Corsica, and Sardinia, are derived. Monotypic.
Distribution. SC & E Turkey, N Iraq, S Armenia, Azerbaijan (Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic), N Israel (Mt Carmel), and NW Iran;its distribution boundaries in Iran have not been fully determined. Introduced on Kabudan I in Lake Urumiyeh, NW Iran.
Descriptive notes. Head—body 128-140 cm (males) and 124-128 cm (females), tail 11-13 cm (males) and 11-12 em (females), shoulder height 83-91 cm, hindfoot 37-40 cm (males) and 34-37 cm (females); weight 55-67 kg (males) and 35-45 kg (females). Females are hornless. Males lack a bib and have a dark ruff extending from the front of the lower neck to the chest. A white saddle patch that often extends to the middorsal area is present. There can be a dark line separating the white undersides from the body coloration. Body color of males and females is a shade of brown. The lower portions of the legs are white. Male horns grow upward and curve back over the neck (supracervical). Diploid chromosome number is 54.
Habitat. Anatolian Sheep occur in dissected mountain foothills, montane habitats, and undulating steppe. In agricultural areas, they principally occur in adjacent,steeper, rougher terrain.
Food and Feeding. Like other wild sheep, they are principally grazers, with graminoids comprising the largest percentage of their diets. They also feed in cultivated fields, where wheat can be a major seasonal regional component of their diets.
Breeding. Mating occurs principally in December, and lambs, singletons or twins, are born in May. Gestation lasts 150-160 days. Newborn lambs weigh approximately 3 kg. Males seek estrous ewes over a wide area and individual dominant rams guard individual estrous ewes from other rams, but will mate with several ewes during a mating season. Copulations last 2-3 seconds.
Activity patterns. Anatolian Sheep are crepuscular, tending to feed early in the morning and in the evening, and resting during the middle of the day.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. Detailed studies have not been conducted. Males establish social hierarchies in which larger-bodied, longer-horned individual are dominant over younger, smaller, rams. Aggressive interactions may entail several non-violent displays such as the front kick, in which the front leg is lifted toward the opponent, and the head twist, in which the head is rotated sharply right or left. Older rams do not disturb non-estrous ewes during the mating season, but younger rams can be aggressive toward ewes even if they are not in estrus. Older rams occur in stable social groups and prevent younger rams from participating in the rut.
Status and Conservation. CITES Appendix 1 (as O. orientalis ophion). Classified as Vulnerable on the The IUCN Red List (as O. o. gmelini). Populations of the Anatolian Sheep in Iran, Turkey, and Iraq are disjunct and have decreased, but census data are not available. The largest populations in Turkey and Iran are in protected areas. The population in the Bozdag Wildlife Protected Area in south-central Turkey numbers about 600, a major increase from the less than 40 remaining when the reserve was established. Sheep on Kabudan Island probably number over 1500. Major threats are competition with domestic livestock, transmission of disease from domestic livestock, and illegal hunting. Wild sheep in Iran are parasitized by 25 species of gastrointestinal nematodes that are shared by domestic sheep.
Bibliography. Ellerman & Morrison-Scott (1966), Eslami et al. (1979), Groves & Grubb (2011), Grubb (2005), Kaya et al. (2004), Kence & Tarhan (1997), Shackleton (1997a, 1997b), Valdez (1982, 2008b), Valdez, Alamia et al. (1977), Valdez, Cardenas & Sanchez (1991), Valdez, Nadler & Bunch (1978), Weinberg et al. (1997), Ziaie (1997).
description: Published as part of Don E. Wilson & Russell A. Mittermeier, 2011, Bovidae, pp. 444-779 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 2 Hoofed Mammals, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions on pages 683-684, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6512484