Mouflon

Mouflon
ムフロン
Character Data
Romaji		Mufuron
Debut		Kemono Friends Kingdom
Animal Data
Scientific Name		Ovis gmelini
Distribution		Turkey, Iraq, and Iran
Diet		Herbivore
Avg. Lifespan		13 years
Read More		Mouflon
Conservation

Mouflon​

Season 2​

Festival​

Kingdom

The Mouflon is a type of mammal Friend that appeared in the Japari Bus Tour at Gunma Safari Park. She has been featured in Kemono Friends Kingdom.

Appearance

Mouflon has large, grey-brown horns that curve behind her head. She sports two black ears on the far sides of her head, much like her species. Her hair is about breast length, light brown ending in dark brown in the middle. She has dark brown bangs, with white highlights. She has a fur collar, tied to resemble a neckerchief. She is wearing a brown and white dress with poofy, short sleeves, and buttons running down the front. She is also wearing long, white fingerless gloves, tight capris, white and black maryjanes and white socks.

Series Appearances

Appearances In Kemono Friends Media

Media		Role

Kemono Friends Picross

Mouflon appears in a puzzle of Kemono Friends Picross where the player can obtain a picture of the friend by solving a puzzle.

In Real Life

A male Cyprus mouflon (Ovis gmelini ophion), near Agios Epiphanios, Cyprus. Photo by Charles J. Sharp, 2021.

A ewe Mouflon. Photo by user Doroneko.

The Mouflon (pron. MOO-flawn) is a wild sheep native to the Middle East region. Specifically Cyprus, the Caspian region (eastern Turkey), Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran. It is thought to be the ancestor of all modern domestic sheep breeds. There are five recognized subspecies: the Armenian Mouflon, Esfahan mouflon, Laristan mouflon, Cyprus mouflon, and European Mouflon. It is considered to be the common ancestor of all domesticated sheep.

They have reddish brown, short coats with dark stripes down the back, and black chest patches. The bellies are generally lighter colored than the top. As with most sheep species, the males are horned where the females can either be horned or polled (dehorned through selective breeding). The horns of males are typically curved one full revolution of around 85 cm. Male and female Mouflon are the same height of around 0.9 meters (about 2.9 ft.), where the males weigh in around 50 kg (about 110 lbs.) and the females around 35 kg (about 77 lbs.).

Based on comparison of mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences, three groups of sheep have been identified: Pachyceriforms of Siberia (snow sheep) and North America (bighorn and Dall sheep), Argaliforms (argali) of Central Asia, and Moufloniforms (urial, mouflon, and domestic sheep) of Eurasia. The common ancestor sheep was believed to have had 60 chromosomes, like goats. However Mouflon and domestic sheep have 54 chromosomes, with three pairs (1+3, 2+8, 5+11) of ancestral chromosomes. These combined DNA strands formed bi-armed chromosomes, as compared to the argali and urial, which have 56 and 58 chromosomes respectively. If the urial is as closely related to the mouflons as mitochondrial DNA indicates, then two chromosomes would have needed to split during its evolution away from the Mouflon subspecies.

Male Mouflon have a very strict "dominance hierarchy". Before the mating season, the males will establish dominance by ramming their horns against each other. Dominance depends on age and how big the horns are. Females have a similar social hierarchy status, but can still breed regardless of status. Pregnancy lasts about five months, with one or two lambs being born. Otherwise, Mouflons are not particularly social animals and only come together for mating season.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have declared it a protected species. In Turkey and Iran, hunting is only allowed with a special license. The Cyprus population is listed as a "strictly protected species" by the Habitats Directive of the European Union and cannot be hunted legally.

Trivia

• A mouflon was cloned successfully in early 2001 and lived at least seven months, making it the first clone of an endangered mammal to survive beyond infancy.
• It was possibly introduced to Cyprus during the Neolithic period (around 10-12,000 years ago).
• Like most sheep species, the males are called "rams" and the females are called "ewes".
• A group of Mouflon is called a "drift" or a "drove".
• The mouflon was the logo of Cyprus Airways until 2015.
• It is also featured on the historical flag of the Armenian kingdom of Syunik.

References

• Wikipedia Page
• Animalia.Bio
• Michel, S. & Ghoddousi, A. (2020). "Ovis gmelini". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T54940218A22147055. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T54940218A22147055.en. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
• Hiendleder, S.; Kaupe, B.; Wassmuth, R.; Janke, A. (2002). "Molecular analysis of wild and domestic sheep questions current nomenclature and provides evidence for domestication from two different subspecies". Proceedings: Biological Sciences. 269 (1494): 893–904. doi:10.1098/rspb.2002.1975. PMC 1690972. PMID 12028771.
• Hiendleder, S.; Mainz, K.; Plante, Y.; Lewalski, H. (1998). "Analysis of mitochondrial DNA indicates that domestic sheep are derived from two different ancestral maternal sources: No evidence for contributions from urial and argali sheep". Journal of Heredity. 89 (2): 113–120.
• MacDonald, D.; Barret, P. (1993). Mammals of Britain & Europe. Vol. 1. London: HarperCollins. pp. 220–221. ISBN 978-0-00-219779-3.
• Vigne, J.D. (1994). "Les transferts anciens de mammifères en Europe occidentale: histoires, mécanismes et implications dans les sciences de l'homme et les sciences de la vie". Colloques d'Histoire des Sciences zoologiques. 5: 15–37.
• Bunch, Wu, Zhang, Wang (2005). "Phylogenetic analysis of the snow sheep (Ovis nivicola) and closely related taxa", Journal of Heredity, 97 (1) 21–30.
• Loi, P.; Ptak, G.; Barboni, B.; Fulka Jr, J.; Cappai, P.; Clinton, M. (2001). "Genetic rescue of an endangered mammal by cross-species nuclear transfer using post-mortem somatic cells". Nature Biotechnology. 19 (10): 962–964. doi:10.1038/nbt1001-962. PMID 11581663. S2CID 10633589.