Surprise, Ruminating

Post date: Jul 13, 2016 7:33:31 PM

A video showing ewe Surprise chewing her cud and thinking. Her lamb is somewhere nearby - she is a good mother and would be looking and calling otherwise. And her lamb would be calling for mama. An interesting thing, see how pink her belly is - this is, I believe, an adaptation developed on Santa Cruz Island by Surprise's (as well as many other ewes') ancestors. They shed their belly wool when the lambs come along. I think this is partly that the protein they ingest or manufacture (with their ruminant bacteria) is going to grow lambs and later to make milk, and partly an adaptation to allow the lambs to more easily find the udder. Many of our ewes have this trait. The wool will grow back.