Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Drenthe heath sheep

Ovis aries

Description:

The Drenthe heath sheep is the oldest Dutch native sheep breed. Named after the province of Drenthe in the Netherlands, because it was there that they were found most. Drenthe is a province that still harbours the largest heath fields and as the farming land was poor, so the Drenthen farmers had to have a sheep that could survive the harsh winters on little extra food. Selection occurred mostly in a natural way. The most hardened sheep survived, just like it happens with animals living in the wild. Those sheep needed endurance, because they had to roam the heath fields for hours and hours to get their bellies full. Sheep do have a natural wool fat, called lanoline which protect them from getting soaking wet to their skin when it's raining.

Habitat:

Domesticated breed of sheep grazing on heathland in a national park.

Notes:

A decaying ram Drenthe heath sheep. Spotted in National Park Dwingelderveld, Holland. (sources:see reference)

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

3 Comments

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 8 years ago

:-P

Jae
Jae 8 years ago

Yeah it caught me off guard, here I thought I was following the scent of a stinkhorn.

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 8 years ago

Haven't heard of those.. thanks. Doesn't look too happy.

Jae
Spotted by
Jae

Westerveld, Drenthe, Netherlands

Spotted on Oct 11, 2015
Submitted on Oct 16, 2015

Related Spottings

Bighorn sheep  Ovis canadensis Bighorn Sheep Sheep Suffolk lamb

Nearby Spottings

Chicken of the Woods [Sulphur Shelf] Brimstone Butterfly Clouded Yellow Butterfly Silver Y Moth
Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team