NOTE ON THE Al'.NoRMAL HOOFS OF A SHEEP. ] 01) 



Note on the Abnormal Hoofs of a Sheep. 



By 



Ernest Warren, D.Se.l^oiid., 



Director of the Natal Government Museum. 



With Plate XIV. 



In 1905 Miss Shirley Moor, of Grey stone, Estcourt, Natal, 

 sent to the Museum the left foot of a sheep exhibiting- a 

 striking abnormality. 



The annexed illustration shows the abnormal foot, and for 

 comparison a normal foot of a Kafir sheep is shown with it. 



With reference to the specimen the donor writes : " The 

 sheep, so far as I can trace baciv, was a cross between the 

 Merino and the ordinary Kafir sheep. The hind feet were 

 the only ones so deformed; the other hind foot was some- 

 what broken, and was not so regularly formed as that which 

 I sent you." 



The sheep used all its feet for walking, apparently without 

 very great inconvenience, but the spirally twisted hoofs 

 exhibited little sign of wear. 



On the occasion of the visit of the British Association to 

 Natal Dr. S. F. Harmer informed me that such spiral growth 

 of the hoofs is known in the horse, ox, and perhaps in the 

 sheep ; also Miss Moor informs me that she has heard of the 

 same or of a similar abnormality in the hoof of a bull from 

 the same locality (Estcourt) as that from which the sheep 

 came. The present specimen is, however, worthy of record 

 for the following two reasons : 



(1) The spirals for the two hoofs both run in the same 



VOL. 1, PART 1. 8 



