Aoudad, the Barbary Sheep : Aoudad Hunting

Aoudad

Welcome to this website all about AOUDAD, The Barbary Sheep (Ammotragus lervia). Here I have gathered together information relating to The Barbary Sheep, reviewed the best Barbary Sheep websites, visited Barbary Sheep Bighorn Hunting pages and written unique original articles about Aoudad, the Barbary6 Sheep.

This photograph is of an Aoudad, a Barbary Sheep at the Wildlife Ranch in San Antonio, TEXAS, USA.

Barbary Sheep

There are several Aoudad, Barbary Sheep photographs here, and I hope to be adding more. I have an outing planned to London Zoo this summer where I hope to get more photographs of Barbary Sheep for the Aoudad website.

Range of Barbary Sheep

Barbary sheep are found in northern Africa in Algeria, Tunisia, northern Chad, Egypt, Libya, northern Mali, Mauritania, Morocco (including Western Sahara), Niger and Sudan (west of Nile and east of Nile in the Red Sea Hills).

Barbary Sheep at Paignton Zoo, Devon, England. Photograph Credit: Adrian Pingstone in July 2003

Barbary Sheep Introduced Populations

Barbary sheep were introduced into southeastern Spain and southwestern United States (parts of Texas, New Mexico, California) and Mexico and in some parts of Africa.

Barbary Sheep Habitats

Barbary Sheep are found in arid mountainous areas of the Sahara where they graze and browse all available plants -- grass, bushes, lichen and acacia. They obtain all their moisture from food, but if water is available they drink and wallow in it. Barbary Sheep are crepuscular, active in the early morning and late afternoon, resting in the heat of the day. They are very agile and can jump over two metres from a stand-still. Barbary Sheep are usually solitary, and freeze in the presence of danger. Their main predators in North Africa are leopards and caracals.

Barbary Sheep Names

The binomial name Ammotragus lervia derives from the Greek ammos ("sand", referring to the sand-coloured coat) and tragos ("goat"). Lervia derives from the wild sheep of northern Africa described as "lerwee" by Rev. T. Shaw in his "Travels and Observations" about parts of Barbary and Levant.

"Aoudad" (pronounced /a'u?dæd/ or /'a?dæd/) is the name for this sheep used by the Berbers, a North African people.

Other names used for Aoudad are; Barbary Sheep, Arui and Waddan (in Libya).

Aoudad Sheep Description

Native to North Africa, the aoudad is rufous tawny in color. It's coat has been described as sand coloured. The insides of the legs are whitish. There is no beard, but there is a ventral mane of long, soft hairs on the throat, chest, and upper part of the forelegs. The horns of the male sweep outward, backward, and then inward; they are rather heavy and wrinkled, and measure up to 34 inches in length. Aoudad are hunted for their trophy horns. Females also have prominent backswept horns although they are not as large as those of the male.