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Leader sheep's exceptional intelligence not folklore, study proves (2015)

3 pointsby lucgommansover 3 years ago

1 comment

lucgommansover 3 years ago
I thought this was super interesting. Initially saw it on Wikipedia but this is the best article I could find that puts most of the info in one spot. Wikipedia[1] describes it as:<p>&gt; A unique strain within the population is the Leader sheep, which carries a hereditary ability or predisposition to lead other sheep safely over dangerous ground.<p>Picture of such a sheep: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.animalgeneticresources.net&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;2018&#x2F;06&#x2F;Icelandic-leader-sheep.jpg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.animalgeneticresources.net&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;20...</a> (from [2])<p>When looking for leader sheep, Iceland immediately comes up so it does seem to be unique to that environment. I can only imagine the evolutionary pressures that led to this, and it makes me wonder if other animals (including humans) have hereditary traits. (Perhaps there is some logic to a royal line after all! (jk)) Sheep aren&#x27;t even native to that island; they were introduced only a few hundred years ago yet this trait apparently doesn&#x27;t exist elsewhere.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Icelandic_sheep" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Icelandic_sheep</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.animalgeneticresources.net&#x2F;index.php&#x2F;country&#x2F;iceland&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.animalgeneticresources.net&#x2F;index.php&#x2F;country&#x2F;ice...</a>