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Meet the sheep
Sheep can recognise and remember about 50 sheep faces and several human faces for more than two years.
🏡 Hills and grasslands; wild ancestors are mountain-climbing mouflon.🍽️ Grass and herbs. They're picky and choose their favourite plants.⏳ 10–12 years; farmed lambs are usually slaughtered before their first birthday.
Friends and family
Sheep stay close to friends and get stressed when alone — a picture of a familiar sheep face calms them down.
Ewes know their own lamb's bleat among hundreds of others.
How they talk
Ewes and lambs recognise each other's calls within hours of birth.
How clever are they?
Sheep have learned to roll across cattle grids and to navigate mazes to find a friend.
What they feel
A sheep's ear position tells scientists a lot about whether they feel calm, alert or afraid.
Superpower: Face memory
Sheep remember faces for over two years — longer than many people remember names.
🤓 Did you know?
- Sheep recognise about 50 other sheep by face.
- Seeing a photo of a familiar sheep lowers a lonely sheep's stress.
- Sheep have rectangular pupils giving them wide, panoramic vision.
Living alongside people
Over a billion sheep live with humans, farmed for wool, milk and meat.