Soay Sheep
The Soay Sheep: The Island Of Sheep… Sheep
That’s right, the word Soay translates to “Island of Sheep,” and the origin of the actual place is a bit of a mystery in and of itself. Perhaps Soay sheep were deposited on the island during the height of the Viking movements, around the ninth and tenth centuries. Perhaps they were left to matriculate much earlier than this, as the Old Norse translation of the namesake island denotes the Bronze Age. Either way, this little piece of land off of the coast of Scotland was home to the Soay sheep, and their life and history is an interesting one to say the least. Aside from two attempts at transporting small groups of this primitive sheep to captivity, they have lived and died by their own power for many centuries, and are the subject of endless studies by the scientific community on their somewhat new plot of land, the Island of Hirta.
The Soay sheep comes in four primary colorations, the solid or self-colored blacks and browns being the least common. Whites are second only to the most common coloration seen, which is a tan to brown with a white underbelly, under chin, and rump patch. The wool needs not be sheered, and the usually way of harvesting it is by pulling, or rooing. Though the Soay sheep is considered to be domestic, this immediate descendent of the feral herd left behind is still left to its own devices on the island. Scientists are baffled and fascinated by the patterns of over compensatory density dependence which rules the herd, allowing them to overpopulate and then die off cycle after cycle.
The Soay sheep herd has never learned the balance of self-sustenance, yet this death of the masses and renewal of the stock seems to work quite well for them after all of these centuries. There are factors, however, which will cause a greater decline in numbers, and therefore deaths, amongst the herd. Heavy late winter rains, for instance, will adversely affect the health of the very pregnant mother sheep, and many generations never get the chance to starve to death when these climatic disasters occur. During these times, the carrying capacity and natural resources of the island are not tried to the limit, and the herd may last out another year before overpopulation and mass deaths occur.
During the 1910’s, a small clutch of Soay sheep were relocated from the island to a private stock farm where they helped to build the bloodlines for the extravagant Park Soay sheep breed of Woburn Alley. Captive Soay sheep are a much prized commodity, are surprisingly nimble, agile, and quick, and require a few hiding places in order to satisfy their natural instinct to duck and cover.