Armenian mouflon Armenian mouflon The Armenian mouflon (, "haykakan muflon"; , "Qutch-e armani"), also known as the Armenian sheep, Armenian wild sheep, Armenian red sheep, or trans-Caucasian sheep ("Ovis orientalis gmelini") is an endangered subspecies of mouflon endemic to Iran, Armenia, and Nakhchivan (Azerbaijan). The Armenian mouflon was first described in 1840 by Edward Blyth, who equated it with the "Orientalische Schaaf" (Oriental sheep) described by Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin in 1774. "O. o. gmelini" is found in northwestern Iran. Armenian mouflons were transferred to Kabudan (Kaboodan) Island in Lake Urmia in 1895 and 1906 by one of the governors of Azerbaijan. A
Mouflon domesticated animals, where they have naturalized in the mountainous interiors of these islands over the past few thousand years, giving rise to the subspecies known as European mouflon ("O. orientalis musimon"). On the island of Cyprus, the mouflon or "agrino" became a different and endemic subspecies known as the Cyprus mouflon ("O. o. ophion"). The Cyprus mouflon population contains only about 3,000 animals. They are now rare on the islands, but are classified as feral animals by the IUCN. They were later successfully introduced into continental Europe, including Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, central Italy, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, the