Sheep is a general term for Artiodactyla sheep and goat. Rams and ewes have horns. Ram's horns are long and thick, extending horizontally in a spiral shape, while ewe's horns are thin and short, and most of them extend obliquely outward. The bridge of the nose is raised, and the ears are big but not drooping; The chest is open, the back is straight, the cross is slightly higher, and the flat cone tail is close to the hip. The coat color is very mixed, and the service life is about 10- 15 years.

Sheep are mainly distributed in the north of the Yangtze River in China. Herbivorous ruminants have strong adaptability and can survive from arid and cold mountainous areas to hot and humid flat land. Good feeding conditions, perennial estrus; The condition is poor, and estrus is concentrated in late summer and early autumn. The estrous cycle is about 17 days. The gestation period is about 150 days.

Sheep have the closest relationship with the life of ancient ancestors, and have a deep historical origin with the development of traditional culture in China, which affects the emergence and development of China's writing, diet, morality, etiquette, aesthetics and other cultures.

cultural tradition

"Sheep" was connected with "Xiang" in ancient times, and "Xiang" can also be written as "auspicious sheep", which means auspiciousness, and sheep is a symbol of "auspiciousness". At the beginning of the year, it was auspicious for the ancients to hang a sheep's head on the door, send the sheep in communication and use the sheep as a dowry.

Legend has it that when an antelope sleeps at night, it is different from ordinary animals and wild animals. It will find a tree, seize its position, jump hard and hang it on the branch with its horns, so as to ensure that its whole body is suspended and other wild animals can't reach it.

About the origin of antelope hanging horns, it was first seen in Yaya Stone Beast: the antelope sleeps at night and hangs its horns on the tree without leaving any trace to prevent the enemy from coming.

Song's Cang Bian said: "Poets praise love. In the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, people were interested in nothing but interest. Therefore, its beauty is thorough and exquisite, and it cannot be pooled. " He also used "the voice in the air, the color in the phase, the moon in the water and the image in the mirror" to describe this ethereal and mysterious poetic realm.