Horn in a square: why did the holy rams acquire two pairs of horns at once? (6 photos)

We are poor sheep

Nobody is shepherding us.

We are melting like candles...

Well, who will save us?

A simple song from a cartoon perfectly conveys the essence of these woolly, rather cute and not very smart creatures.





Sheep are all about curls and bleating. But, as with any rule, there are exceptions to these soulful artiodactyl ruminants.



We are talking about the many-horned sheep of St. James (or Jacob). In general, there are only five multi-horned breeds. They all come from Spain or Britain. And this feature, which turns cute creatures into some kind of fantastic monsters, is not the result of human experiments (which is encouraging), but a natural mutation.

By the way, the character of these fortunately few animals is more like that of a goat than that of a meek sheep. And in terms of tenacity, cunning and resourcefulness, they really look like creatures of hell. But there are few of them, which is also pleasing.





And St. James sheep are one of the oldest breeds in which the multi-horned gene has been preserved. And the British tried to explain this characteristic by inventing a whole bunch of legends (what could we do without them?)

According to the first epic tale, the apostle, after whom the breed was named, received a cute animal as a gift from one of his relatives. The second legend says that the many-horned stubborn ones arrived in England along with the Vikings, which quite logically explains the stubborn nature of the curly-haired demons. The third version is quite prosaic: the Spaniards invented the horned sheep, and therefore the sheep even have an informal name - “Spanish sheep”. Not all representatives of the breed are multi-horned. There are more ordinary ones, but non-standard ones are much more interesting.



These animals are bred mainly for decorative purposes and kept in parks and zoos. But the sheep of St. James have another important function: they work as Cerberus. I mean, shepherds for their ordinary two-horned or completely hornless unfortunate brothers. More often, the leadership position is occupied by the ram, but the ladies also cope well with the responsibilities. Better than any other shepherd: they will bite, butt, and kick their sluggish flock when necessary.

Why have they not yet become a monopoly in the shepherd business, finally displacing people? Perhaps the only reason is some differences in methods, methods and goals with ordinary human shepherds. But perhaps there is still more to come.



The stags also successfully cope with the functions of a watchman on the farm. Just imagine: a horned monster slowly walks around the perimeter of the entrusted territory, meaningfully shaking its eternal curl. When a slightly tipsy thief encounters this, he may have a bad feeling or some other embarrassment.

Again, a significant advantage compared to most dog breeds is silence and suddenness. The ram will not dart and run, warning, like a dog barking, of an attack. He will be carried out of the darkness like an ominous shadow and knock you off your feet. That's the minimum. It’s scary to imagine what’s going on with the maximum.



By the way, in addition to the classic arrangement - one pair grows vertically, and the second on the sides, there are also completely unimaginable squiggles: serpentine convolutions, asymmetry, multidirectional curls.

That's what they are, these woolen rock stars with security functions. Horns grow, skills improve. Or maybe, in the meantime, they are hatching a worldwide conspiracy to enslave people. One thing is clear: we do not know everything about these seemingly primitive creatures.