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I am very proud of this video and having been able to capture it to show you. Read on if you're interested in learning more.
Dasher and her lamb were separate from the rest of the herd during her lamb's most vulnerable weeks of life for some added protection. I filmed this video while re-introducing Dasher and her baby back with the rest of the sheep. It's not just the rams that fight for top position!
This is a particular interesting video to me, as it shows a fight between a purely domesticated sheep (Dasher) and wild European Mouflons, Trivia and Livia.
Trivia (who has always been very alpha- she is the one with the ear tag) begins, but ends up getting back up from Livia (without ear tag). Dasher takes them both on with ease and even Dasher's lamb and Trivia's lamb start to gear up to fight. Almost at once Trivia notices and rushes baby off, seemingly to break up the kids before they begin and she even seems to scold her afterwards. Very cool!
Aren't animals just so captivating?
No one was hurt of course, as the sheep's head is tough and even though you can't visibly see horns, they do have a bony horn growth there to absorb the impact. I found this footage especially fascinating and I hope that you enjoy it, too. Everyone is settled peacefully back together again, though the pure Mouflon always tend to be a close knit family than the domesticated sheep. They definitely recognize each other, and that they are very different.
It's also of note to notice that Ithaca (she is the taller lamb and a little older), who is a Purebred European Mouflon sired by Octavian, standing right next to Dasher's only 50% Mouflon lamb, who is half domesticated and half wild (creating a hybrid). It's easy to see how dominate those wild genes are and how much Dasher's hybrid looks like a wild Moulfon, as opposed to resembling more of a domesticated sheep.
If you would like to donate toward my project of getting more wild vigorous blood into our over bred domesticated sheep population, any help would be appreciated. Plus, I can spend more time making these videos for you and education the public. To find out how to donate, visit the following link: http://restarea1mile.com/camelsandfriends/contact.html
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