Rune Sheep

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The Ruhnuschaf is an Estonian breed of sheep that originated on the Baltic island of Ruhnu . Rune sheep belong to the Nordic short-tailed sheep , such as B. also Heidschnucken .

The Estonian rune sheep population is believed to have descended from sheep imported by Swedish-speaking residents who entered the country in the 14th century. In 1944 a population of 300 sheep was documented. The current population of the breed is around 30 animals. It is believed that the Estonian rune sheep were originally bred to produce meat and wool.

Physical adaptations of the Estonian rune sheep to pastures by the sea and small paddocks indicate that these sheep adapted to their surroundings over a long period of time.

Most of the small populations of rune sheep are white or cream-colored with greyish heads and legs, and some have distinctive badger faces. The ewes are not horned , about 10% of the rams are horned. The sheep have short or medium-length tails. The wool is double coated and made up of two types of fibers and was generally used for the manufacture of hand knitting yarn and clothing. The live weight of adult rams is a maximum of 80 kg and of ewes 50 kg.

Although there are considerable genetic differences in most of the northern European sheep breeds, the Rune sheep, as well as the Roslag sheep and the Dalapelz sheep (both originating in Sweden ), inbreeding is highest within the population, while the Rune sheep have been found to be less variable than other Baltic sheep breeds , the population size of around 30 sheep is classified as stable.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b E. Eythorsdottir, H. Viinalass, I. Olsaker, I. Miceikiene, J. Kantanen: Unfolding of population structure in Baltic sheep breeds using microsatellite analysis . In: Heredity . tape 94 , no. 4 , April 2005, ISSN  1365-2540 , p. 448–456 , doi : 10.1038 / sj.hdy.6800640 ( nature.com [accessed June 7, 2019]).
  2. ↑ Gražina Grigaliūnaitė-Vonsevičienė, Valdas Špakauskas: Elektromagnetizmas ir modernioji fizika. Fizikos uždavinynas . Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Vilnius, Lithuania 2014, ISBN 978-6-09457672-0 , doi : 10.3846 / 1507-s .
  3. ↑ Oulu University Press: Origin and maintenance of genetic diversity in Northern European sheep . University of Oulu, Oulu 2006, ISBN 951-42-8234-5 .
  4. ↑ M. TAPIO, I. TAPIO, Z. GRISLIS, L.-E. HOLM, S. JEPPSSON: Native breeds demonstrate high contributions to the molecular variation in northern European sheep . In: Molecular Ecology . tape 14 , no. 13 , October 24, 2005, ISSN  0962-1083 , p. 3951-3963 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1365-294x.2005.02727.x .