History of the domestic sheep exact line of descent between domestic sheep and their wild ancestors is unclear. The most common hypothesis states that "Ovis aries" is descended from the Asiatic ("O. orientalis") species of mouflon. A few breeds of sheep, such as the Castlemilk Moorit from Scotland, were formed through crossbreeding with wild European mouflon. The urial ("O. vignei") was once thought to have been a forebear of domestic sheep, as they occasionally interbreed with mouflon in the Iranian part of their range. However, the urial, argali ("O. ammon"), and snow sheep ("O. nivicola") have a different number of chromosomes than other Ovis species,
European mouflon most common during the rutting season, but the rams fight each other all year round. Originally, European mouflon lived in open, mountainous terrain on stony, dry soils. Today, in Central Europe, they live in deciduous and mixed forests, both on the lowlands and on the uplands and highlands such as the Central Uplands of Germany, but still preferring dry and stony soils. In unfavourable, humid soil conditions, it is easy for bowel diseases and foot rot to occur, which can be fatal. Because their escape behaviour is adapted to high mountain areas, European mouflon can only survive on lowland areas