The paradoxical European mouflon


A trophy specimen of European mouflon displayed at the Zoological Museum of Naples. This particular specimen was Spanish.

European mouflon are a very interesting group of wild sheep of controversial origin, taxonomic position and conservation management.

Their "original" range is to be found on the Mediterranean islands of Cyprus, Corsica and Sardinia, where they were brought by humans from Asia around 8500 years BCE, following a pre-domestication phase (but see below) (Castelló et al. 2016; Barbato et al. 2022; Garel et al. 2022; Kárpáti & Náhlik 2023). Because of this, many authors have regarded the Cyprus and Tyrrhenian mouflons as subspecies of the domestic sheep, as Ovis aries ophion and O. a. musimon, respectively (e.g. Castelló et al. 2016).

The same specimen as above, from a different angle.

However, there is a possibility that the Cyprus mouflon dispersed naturally on the island given lower sea levels at the time, while the domestication that happened in Corsica and Sardinia was probably limited to protection from predation, without any morphological selection (Garel et al. 2022). Because of this and other reasons, an alternative view is to consider the Mediterranean mouflons as subspecies of the Asian mouflon, as Ovis gmelini ophion and O. g. musimon, respectively (see Garel et al. 2022 and references therein). Other taxonomic combinations have also been used. 
All this also casts some doubt whether to consider Mediterranean mouflons as autochthonous (given the thousands of years they lived there) or allochthonous (given that they were brought there by humans) to at least the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, if not Cyprus too (Garel et al. 2022). 

Another specimen of European mouflon, this one at the Turin Museum of Natural History.

Regardless, they are of conservation concern on the three islands, with threats including climate change (they are susceptible to heat stress), habitat fragmentation and competition with domestic livestock (Garel et al. 2022). 

On the other hand, from the 18th century Tyrrhenian mouflons were introduced to continental Europe and also in Argentina, Chile, and the USA, mainly for hunting purposes (but see below) (Castelló et al. 2016; Garel et al. 2022). Here they are of course allochthonous, but their status as an invasive species is controversial: there is fear of their possible negative effects on native vegetation and of possible competition with native ungulates (e.g. Brugnoli & Bragalanti 2018), and because of this, eradication programs have been implemented. Yet other authors point out that no study has sufficiently quantified these negative effects, and some even consider them as naturalised (Garel et al. 2022; Kárpáti & Náhlik 2023). 

Yet another specimen of European mouflon, also from the Turin Museum of Natural History.

A particular case is the one of the mouflons from the island of Giglio, where they were introduced (mainly from Sardinia) for conservation purposes: a genetic study has shown that this population harbours genetic diversity lost in the current Sardinian population, and, according to the authors of the research, should thus be of conservation value, while it is subjected to eradication measures at present (Barbato et al. 2022). Other authors disagree with this, pointing to hybridisation and genetic bottleneck as possible causes for the genetic uniqueness found in the population, which may also be present in other areas anyway.

Regardless, it seems the population on the island has already been extirpated, or nearly so.

A montage of the beautiful Tyrrhenian mouflon mount at MUSE - Museo delle Scienze.

I realize this wasn't much of an anatomical post, but I guess I can make exceptions from time to time.

References 
  • Castelló, J. R., Huffman, B., & Groves, C. (2016). Bovids of the World: Antelopes, Gazelles, Cattle, Goats, Sheep, and Relatives. Princeton University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1803z89
  • Barbato, M., Masseti, M., Pirastru, M., Columbano, N., Scali, M., Vignani, R., & Mereu, P. (2022). Islands as Time Capsules for Genetic Diversity Conservation: The Case of the Giglio Island Mouflon. Diversity, 14(8), 609. https://doi.org/10.3390/d14080609
  • Garel, M., Marchand, P., Bourgoin, G., Santiago-Moreno, J., Portanier, E., Piegert, H., Hadjisterkotis, E., Cugnasse, J.-M. (2022). Mouflon Ovis gmelini Blyth, 1841. In Handbook of the Mammals of Europe; Hackländer, K., Zachos, F.E., Eds.; Springer: Cham, Switzerland, 2022.
  • Kárpáti, T., & Náhlik, A. (2023). Is the Impact of the European Mouflon on Vegetation Influenced by the Allochthonous Nature of the Species? Diversity, 15(6), 778. https://doi.org/10.3390/d15060778
  • Brugnoli A. & Bragalanti N. (2018) - Muflone. In: Deflorian M. C., Caldonazzi M., Zanghellini S. & Pedrini P. (a cura di), Atlante dei Mammiferi della provincia di Trento. Monografie del Museo delle Scienze, 6: 236-239.


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