Pocket-Sized Sheep?

[ghostlight]

From CNN today:

Could a warming world lead to pocket-sized sheep?

Evidently, milder winters are shrinking Scotland's sheep...

[Lady M]

Topic removed.

[billmcc]

Shrinking sheep could raise the price of wool and, in turn, kilts. Not good. However, a mini-sheep could be a pet that eats grass so I wouldn't have to mow the grass anymore.

[Dan R Porter]

The article makes sense to me. The scary part is they will just pump the sheep/shoats full oif steroids and antibiotics like we do here in the USA to make bigger cattle.

[JolyStNicholas]

The over all effects of the warming could be much worse than we know and this could be just the tip of the ice burg!

[dfmacliam]

great.... instead of 2 1/2 sheep to make a kilt... it will take about 10.... that will add to the cost of a kilt... unless we can harvest the polyviscose crops.. with more seriousness..

[Moon]

I have 3 sheep right now - all rams. One Merino, one Rambouillet, and one Romney. I raise them for their fiber - I am an avid spinner and knitter. I don't notice my sheep getting smaller :P But I suppose if man messes with Mother Nature these are the consequences...

[Pleater]

There is always a tendency for any island dwelling mammal to become smaller - though I am not certain that the mechanism for it has ever been discovered - the fossils of some dinky little island dwelling elephants were dug up some time ago now.

I suspect that not every factor is being tken into account in the report on the sheep.

For instance - if the sheep grow more slowly and so weigh less, but the warmenr winters allow them to survive, then the larger sheep could be placed at a disadvantage because they need more to eat, and the sheep which would have died, didn't.

The sheep are living wild on an island - maybe the smaller sheep can find shelter more easily - can leap up onto smaller ledges to find tiny patches of uneaten pasture, fit between obstacles to reach food out of reach of the larger ones.

The larger sheep would become less sucessful, the smaller ones more so, and the population changes.

The study doesn't say if there are more sheep on the island, so the total weight of sheep could be the same, just moving about on more hooves.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[dfmacliam]

I think as you point out, animals have a way to adapting to their enviroment.. With less food available they tend to grow smaller, while an enviroment with an abundence of food, they tend to grow larger... I guess you could apply the same principles to people..through the generations....