The North Ronaldsay is a breed of domestic sheep from the northernmost island of Orkney, off the north coast of Scotland. It belongs to the Northern European short-tailed sheep group of breeds, and has evolved without much cross-breeding with modern breeds. It is a smaller sheep than most, with the rams (males) horned and ewes (females) mostly hornless. It was formerly kept primarily for wool, but now the two largest flocks are feral, one on North Ronaldsay and another on the Orkney island of Linga Holm. The Rare Breeds Survival Trust lists the breed as "vulnerable", with fewer than 600 registered breeding females in the United Kingdom. The sheep on North Ronaldsay are confined to the shoreline by a 1.8 m tall (6 ft) dry-stone wall, which completely encircles the island. The wall was built originally to protect the shoreline and keep the sheep inside it, but when seaweed farming on the shore became uneconomical, the sheep were banished outside the wall to protect the fields and crofts inside. Because of their restricted environment, the sheep evolved to subsist almost entirely on seaweed.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Ronaldsay_sheep
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1543:
Led by the Ethiopian Emperor Galawdewos, the combined army of Ethiopian and Portuguese troops defeated a Muslim army led by Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wayna_Daga
1862:
American Civil War: The Confederate Army began an attempt to gain control of the Southwest with a major victory in the Battle of Valverde. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Valverde
1919:
Bavarian socialist Kurt Eisner, who had organized the German Revolution that overthrew the Wittelsbach monarchy and established Bavaria as a republic, was assassinated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Eisner
1958:
British artist Gerald Holtom unveiled a logo for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament that became internationally recognised as the peace sign. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_symbols
1965:
Black nationalist Malcolm X was assassinated while giving a speech in New York City's Audubon Ballroom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
isogloss: (sociolinguistics, geography) A line on a map indicating the geographical boundaries of a linguistic feature. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/isogloss
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
I belong to no nation, no civilization, no society, no race, but to the Divine. I obey no master, no rules, no law, no social convention, but the Divine. To Him I have surrendered all, will, life and self; for Him I am ready to give all my blood, drop by drop, if such is His will, with complete joy, and nothing in his service can be sacrifice, for all is perfect delight. --Mirra Alfassa https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mirra_Alfassa
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