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
European mouflon hairy coat, the rams are fox red-brown in the summer, usually with a whitish saddle patch, the ewes are brownish. Both sexes are darker in winter. The rams have helix-shaped horns up to 80 cm long; females have no horns on Sardinia, but on Corsica they have smaller horns that are slightly curved towards the rear. As an animal whose ancestors used to live in open terrain above the tree line, the eyesight of the mouflon is well developed. Its laterally-located eyes allow the mouflon to scan a wide arc without turning its head. In older rams, the field of