Animals
a companion for dinner

It was a long process to domesticate animals. With the aid of dogs, sheep and goats were the first to succumb. Pigs and cattle eventually followed, with chickens arriving from the continent.
Sheep were probably the most useful, not just for the meat and milk, but fat for candles and lamps, bones for tools, and wool to make warm comfortable clothing, ideally suited to the British weather.

Sheep

Mouflon

Also Known By: muflone (Italian), Corsican mouflon, European mouflon, musimon, musmon, Sardinian mouflon
The mouflon (Ovis musimon) is thought to be one of the two ancestors for all modern sheep breeds. It is red-brown with a dark back-stripe, light coloured saddle patch and underparts. The males are horned and the females are horned or polled. It is now rare but has been successfully introduced into central Europe, including Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovak Republics, and Romania.

Soay

The Soay have been called the only living example of the small, primitive sheep which inhabited the British Isles before the coming of the Norsemen and the Romans. These sheep were numerous before the time of the Roman occupation. Their name is derived from the island of Soay off the coast of Scotland.

The Soay are small framed, good legs and a fleece varying from light to dark brown and sheds naturally in the summer. The males of this breed are horned and the females may be either polled or horned. The fleece is remarkable fine and, in contrast to mouflon, the inner fleece is highly developed and it is difficult to distinguish a outer coat. This is a clear indication that the Soay are indeed the product of a breed domesticated in prehistoric times. It is in many ways remarkable to note the extent to which the outer coat has been removed, especially considering their years of feral existence. The breed also lacks the flocking instinct of many breeds. Attempts to work them using sheep dogs result in a scattering of the group.

The Soay have been called the only living example of the small, primitive sheep which inhabited the British Isles before the coming of the Norsemen and the Romans.

Manx Loaghtan

Also known by: Manx Loghtan
The Manx Loaghtan is found on the Isle of Man off the coast of Great Britain. It is of the Northern Short-tailed type, similar to the Hebridean. The Manx Loaghtan is descended from the primitive sheep once found throughout Scotland and the coastal islands of Britain. The word Loaghtan comes from lugh dhoan which means mouse-brown. This has become the established colour in the Isle of Man although they were formerly found in white and black also. The breed is rare. It is small, with no wool on the face or legs. The face and the legs are a dark brown colour Manx Loaghtan are horned with four horns being preferred but individuals are also found with two or six horns. The horns are generally small on the ewes but are larger and stronger on the males.

Sheltland

The Shetland's roots go back over a thousand years, probably to sheep brought to the Shetland Islands by viking settlers. They belong to the Northern European short-tailed group which also contains the Finnsheep, Norwegian Spaelsau, Icelandics, Romanovs and others.

The Shetland is the smallest of the British breeds and it retains many of the characteristics of wild sheep. Today they are considered a primitive or "unimproved" breed. Rams usually weigh 90 to 125 pounds and ewes about 75 to 100 pounds. Rams usually have spiral horns, whereas the ewes are typically polled. They are fine-boned and their naturally short, fluke-shaped tails do not require docking.

Shetland comes in one of the widest ranges of colours of any breed. Besides the white, the sheep produce several shades of wool including moorit(reddy/brown), shaela (silvery grey), fawn, grey, dark brown and black.
   

Other animals

Goats

The goat, along with sheep, were among the earliest domesticated animals. Goat remains have been found at archaeological sites in western Asia, such as Jericho, Choga, Mami, Djeitun and Cayonu, which allows domestication of the goats to be dated at between 6000 and 7000 B.C.
However, unlike sheep, their ancestry is fairly clear. The major contributor of modern goats is the Bezoar goat which is distributed from the mountains of Asia Minor across the Middle East to Sind.
Unlike sheep, goats easily revert to feral or wild condition given a chance. In fact, the only domestic species which will return to a wild state as rapidly as a goat is the domestic cat.

Cattle

Remains of domesticated cattle dating to 6,500 B.C. have been found in Turkey and other sites in the Near East approach this age also. Some authorities date the domestication of cattle as early as 10,000 years ago, and others almost half that amount of time
Early cattle served a triple-purpose. They provided meat, milk and labour to their owners. Eventually their draft purposes were largely replaced by horses and much later by machinery so they were selected more for single or in some cases dual purposes.

Horses

The Exmoor pony is the oldest and purist of the British native pony breeds. The ponies have roamed the bleak, open moors of south-western England, known as Exmoor, for centuries. They are believed to be the direct descendants of the horses that walked onto Britain before it was an island. Archaeological evidence dating back over 60,000 years bears an uncanny similarity to the Exmoor Pony of today.

Pigs

It is believed that the majority of the breeds we now know are descended from the Eurasian Wild Boar (Sus scrofa).It is believed that the majority of the breeds we now know are descended from the Eurasian Wild Boar (Sus scrofa).
The body type, colouring, and general temperament of the Tamworth suggest that it is more a direct descendant of the old English hog than any of the other breeds of English origin.

Birds

Geese

Ducks

Chickens

Pets/Other

  Dogs

Cats

The first cats to be domesticated were the wild cats of Egypt, and are probably the ancestors of modern pet cats.
There are cat remains in the archaeology of ancient Britain, from sites like Danebury Hillfort.
The native cat of Britain will not domesticate, so they would have to have been brought here from abroad.

Hares

Hares give birth to precocial young (born with hair, open eyes and ready to run) and don't make nests or burrows.
Correspondingly, less postnatal care is necessary for hares than rabbits (however, hares have longer gestation periods). Hares are creatures of open habitats and are specialised for running (up to 40 mph)
During the iron age, the hare was kept as a pet, and because of it's speed, it was thought that they were used by the gods as messengers. Hare was let free to run, and the way, and direction, was interpreted to foretell the future.

 
 
 

Last update to this page : 27 April 2004

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