DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



13 



stone and other parks and on various 

 private estates in United States and 

 Canada. Our bison is therefore at pres- 

 ent in a state of semi-domestication. It 

 breeds freely in captivity and when 

 crossed with domestic cattle produces 

 fertile crosses known as catalo. These 

 hybrid animals are fertile both among 

 themselves and with either of the parent 

 species. They produce a shaggy coat 

 good for robes, especially when the buf- 

 falo is crossed on the Galloway cattle. 



The African Buffalo (Bos coffer) is 

 found under five recognizable varieties 

 throughout Africa. Apparently it has 

 not been domesticated nor interbred 



Sheep — The ancestral form of the do- 

 mestic breeds of sheep (Ovis aries) is 

 entirely unknown. The wild moufion of 

 Europe (Ovis musimon) crosses with do- 

 mestic sheep and has been considered by 

 some writers as the source of the Euro- 

 pean breeds of sheep. There is no good 

 evidence for this assumption. It is 

 possible, however, that the moufion is 

 the original parent of the European 

 sheep and the argali (Ovis ammon) may 

 have given rise to some of the Asiatic 

 sheep. Wild species of sheep are found 

 in Europe, Asia, Africa and America. 

 Although specimens are kept in zoolog- 

 ical parks they do not lend themselves 



Fig. 8 LADY PALMER AND FLATBUSH MARE, OF FIFTY YEARS AGO, AT FULL SPEED 



with domestic cattle. The Indian buf- 

 falo (Bos bubalns) is found wild in 

 India and other parts of the orient. In 

 a semi-domesticated condition this ani- 

 mal is found in southeastern Europe, 

 Africa, Western Asia, Burma, Philip- 

 pine Islands (where it is known as car- 

 abao) and neighboring countries. In 

 India the domesticated buffalo gives 

 more milk and of a better quality than 

 that of native cattle. The period of 

 lactation extends over about three years. 

 Other Bovidse such as the tamarau 

 of Mindoro, the anoa of the island of 

 Celebes, and the musk ox of Arctic 

 America are of less importance. 



readily to domestication. Our Rocky 

 mountain sheep (Ovis canadensis) has 

 apparently never produced any hybrids 

 with domestic sheep. In former years, 

 however, the bucks used to come down 

 among the flocks of domestic ewes. 



Sheep are perhaps more influenced by 

 geological conditions than any other do- 

 mesticated animal. In England, for ex- 

 ample, ea«h region has its characteris- 

 tic breeds. These will be classified and 

 described in the special chapter on 



Goats — The zoological differences be- 

 tween sheep and goats are very slight and 

 many naturalists believe they should 



