Strange Experience With Sheep (1)

[Lucky]

I live a few miles from Marsden and it is a local joke that the inhabitants there are rather too interested in sheep than is quite proper (I’m putting that politely).

Seriously, the thing cries out for academic research. Assuming it is true (i.e. >= 1 sheep has been observed to slide or roll over a cattle-grid) then:
1) Are there different modes?
2) Does each animal adopt the same mode?
3) Can animals be distinguished by differential success?
4) Is there any evidence of cultural transmission?

That’s just for starters.

I have a sheep incident to report that would fit here, but as I am going on holiday in a few days I will post that one when I get back.

Apols. to anyone who was expecting more ‘interesting’ material from the title.

 

[Rolfe]

They're not as stupid as they're sometimes made out to be.

I remember when I was stayig on Iona, I'd been up too late the previous morning (youth camp!) and I retreated to a comfortable hollow in the afternoon for a bit of kip. I was lying on my raincoat on the grass at the foot of a low cliff (maybe 10 feet). I saw a ewe appear on the top of the cliff and look over at me, an expression on her sheepy face that said pretty much, WTF??? She turned away, and I heard some baaing disappearing into the middle distance. Ten minutes later she reappeared on the top of a cliff with another sheep, which I later realised (after working on a sheep farm the following summer) was her grown lamb. The pair of them stared at me for several minutes, then finally wandered off. The ewe didn't actually point a hoof and say, just look at that, junior, but it was close!

Rolfe.

 

[Pragmatist]

They're not as stupid as they're sometimes made out to be.

I remember when I was stayig on Iona, I'd been up too late the previous morning (youth camp!) and I retreated to a comfortable hollow in the afternoon for a bit of kip. I was lying on my raincoat on the grass at the foot of a low cliff (maybe 10 feet). I saw a ewe appear on the top of the cliff and look over at me, an expression on her sheepy face that said pretty much, WTF??? She turned away, and I heard some baaing disappearing into the middle distance. Ten minutes later she reappeared on the top of a cliff with another sheep, which I later realised (after working on a sheep farm the following summer) was her grown lamb. The pair of them stared at me for several minutes, then finally wandered off. The ewe didn't actually point a hoof and say, just look at that, junior, but it was close!

Rolfe.

You can imagine the conversation too. "Look son, I told you what can happen when you let those stupid humans stray too near the edge of a cliff"!

 

[Ed]

Originally posted by Rolfe
They're not as stupid as they're sometimes made out to be.

I remember when I was stayig on Iona, I'd been up too late the previous morning (youth camp!) and I retreated to a comfortable hollow in the afternoon for a bit of kip.


I was lying on my raincoat on the grass at the foot of a low cliff (maybe 10 feet). I saw a ewe appear on the top of the cliff and look over at me, an expression on her sheepy face that said pretty much.

WTF???

She turned away, and I heard some baaing disappearing into the middle distance.

Lovers separated. A sad story.

 

[Lucky]

I agree that sheep are not so stupid, but – rolling over cattle-grids! I mean, how did it start? Was it one exceptionally brainy animal? What was going on in its sheep mind?

I have occasionally seen a sheep that appears to have crossed a cattle-grid, but it is rare. So if the Marsden sheep can do it, why can’t they all?

 

[Benguin]

I agree that sheep are not so stupid, but – rolling over cattle-grids! I mean, how did it start? Was it one exceptionally brainy animal? What was going on in its sheep mind?

I have occasionally seen a sheep that appears to have crossed a cattle-grid, but it is rare. So if the Marsden sheep can do it, why can’t they all?

It's an interesting point ... can they teach each other neat tricks? Certainly dogs and pigs can, but cows and sheep .... ???

My only sheep anecdotes are being 'attacked' by a cheviot when our jack russels started barking at its lamb, frightening and funny.

And another of one our jack russels (an incredibly daft example of the breed, hand-reared) managing to befriend a bunch of dales-based black-faced ewes to the point where they all hung around together sniffing each other's bums. Even the farmer couldn't understand that one (after politely pointing out he'd have shot our dog if he hadn't looked twice and seen it was softer than the sheep).

 

[Lucky]

Benguin, I think the best explanation there is that your dog is a little bit stupid. But not sure about the sheep. I have an anecdote about a sheep/human species confusion (on the part of the sheep!); I am hoping someone can throw some light on it, but as I’m about to go on holiday I’ll save it for now, as I don’t want to miss any replies.

 

[Benguin]

Benguin, I think the best explanation there is that your dog is a little bit stupid. But not sure about the sheep. I have an anecdote about a sheep/human species confusion (on the part of the sheep!); I am hoping someone can throw some light on it, but as I’m about to go on holiday I’ll save it for now, as I don’t want to miss any replies.

There was nothing a little stupid about that dog, he was a daft as a bag of incredibly daft things.

He managed to be born in a litter of one, never left his mother, or the family his mother was living with. I'm not sure he quite understood he was a dog.

The sheep used to gang up on him and he'd run away, you have to admit that is worth seeing!

 

[Rolfe]

Q. Why do New Zealand men marry New Zealand women?

A. Because the sheep can't cook.

(Probably geographically sanitised to keep the wrath of a couple million Taffs at bay, which won't save it from being non-PC online but never mind, pray continue....)