View allAll Photos Tagged Humankindness
I took the photos in this series for Birth for Humankind, an organisation that provides free birth support and education for pregnant women in Melbourne who are experiencing financial and social hardship.
You can read the story behind these photos here: medium.com/@Birth_for_HumanKIND/the-beautiful-bond-betwee...
Subject: A walking work of art, Gregory Da Silva is more than an odd spectacle...
To Invite Gregory da silva,The Famous Egg man, to your Events or Festivals, please Contact : Cellphone: 0737507923
Email: eggman@galmail.co.za
A walking work of art, Gregory Da Silva is more than an odd spectacle - he is a symbol of Africa's many diverse cultures...
A Symbol of African Unity
In the first heady years of the African Union, the world's eyes are increasingly turned to the continent from which humankind first appeared. Beneath the seemingly impenetrable mask of violence portrayed in popular media, lies a living and thriving cultural climate which Des Warde finds well depicted by West African street artist Gregory Da Silva.
The outfit always turns heads, and each day it boasts a new feature, a new symbol of an African culture or practice.
His headdress weighs up to twenty five kilograms, his body is armoured with artifacts and his face painted with tribal patterns and an undying smile. Each day, Gregory Da Silva presents the city centre with a new display of his symbolic art.
Gregory's voice is lively and he repeatedly offers phrases and words in French. Born in Benin, West Africa, 1979, he was trained in computer science at university, but went on to found a theatre group in Benin called 'Voice of Spirit' or 'Voix de l'Esprit' which performed politically motivated as well as comic and poetic theatre at the Benin National Library.
After receiving an invitation to perform at the MASA - Market for African Performing Arts - Festival in the Ivory Coast in 2003, where he represented his country, Benin, for a week before flying to South Africa. He sold his creations at the V&A Waterfront and began to grace the streets of Cape Town with his unique form of art. It was so unique it initially led the bemused Cape Town police to put him in the back of their car and call their superiors for advice! Naturally they were advised them to let him go and Gregory now enjoys a good relationship with the city authorities...
My attention is soon turned to his artifact-laden tunic which Gregory says is about "all African tradition, all African culture[s]" and he goes on to explain some of the more prominent objects displayed.
"Everything must be life,
everything must shine, and be positive"
First, he points out the clusters of sea shells hanging around his neck, saying that in Africa these shells were "old money" and once used as currency. He explains the eggs on his head dress as being symbolic of life and says "everything must be life, everything must shine, [and] be positive". Next his hands grab the arcane black bottle near his waist to explain that in his culture, the Sangoma people would place "good spirits" in a bottle, with which they would "heal sick people [they] passed while walking on the roads".
The broken shards of mirror found on his chest bear similar spiritual significance, and are often worn by Voodoo people in Africa and are said to be a kind of window into the spiritual world, and a "way to talk to [their] ancestor[s]".
Gregory says his main inspiration or motivation is to "make people laugh" and "make people happy" and to represent different African cultures. He says he always thinks "how we can put all of Africa together to make [it] one", adding that "not one country can be forgotten".
When he is travelling in Africa, be it in Senegal, Cameroon, Mali or the Congo, the local people invariably look at him and say "ahh, that is our culture" as they see something of their own represented. "All Africa is in my clothes" he says, drawing attention again to his peerless suit.
When not walking St. Georges Mall or Green Market Square, Gregory features at the Grahamstown festival, the Hermanus Whale Festival, has been hired to receive guests at hotels and airports, and has also appeared on SABC 2 and E-TV News.
He is very popular with tourists, especially those from Italy, England, America and Germany, who frequently ask why he does not come over and do his thing in their own country. But he says his focus is on Africa. Pictures of him certainly do get back to their countries though, as Gregory says everyday "hundreds" of pictures are taken of himself, usually posing with the tourists.
Asked about his dreams and ambitions, Gregory (or the "Egg Man" or "Ei man" as he is also known) says that this year he is planning on starting an art school, which is part of his 'Project For Africa' for this year. He wants to impart creative knowledge to South African youth, giving them the power to create beautiful things and also to support themselves, all part of his ultimate venerable ambition to "[bring] Africa together to make one".
Indeed, and good luck to him.
Egg On His Face But He's Happy
Gregory da silva, A Symbol of African Unity
Who is that Guy with all the Eggs on his head that you see at all the bestest Festivals in South Africa ? His name is gregory da Silva - An Artist Comedian, Storyteller, dancer from Benin West Africa. Gregory da Silva ( Egg Man ) was born in Benin West Africa, Voodoo Country. He speaks French and English and is staying in Cape Town South Africa. Gregory da silva has appeared at many Festivals in Africa and is presently staying in Cape Town South Africa. Gregory has appeared at many Festivals in Africa :
The Masa Festival 2003 ( market for African Performing Arts) in Ivory coast West Africa,
The grahamstown Festival South African National Art Festival,
The Hermanus Whales festival,
The Darling festival, The Gariep Kimberley Festival, Innibos Film Festival Nelspruit Mpumanlanga,
Moorresberg farm Shows,
The Biltong Castle Larger Festival in Somerset East South africa,
The Stellenbosch Street Festival,
The Simonstown Penguin Festival South Africa. He performs every day in Market square Cape Town and adds an air of rio - style festivity wherever he performs. Many Tourrists from Germany, England, America, Italy, France, Belguim call Gregory : The Egg man, or Chicken Man. Very famous in Africa.
AFRICAN EXTRAVAGANZA : The National Arts Festival had its usual colourful start in Grahamstown South Africa. Here Gregory da Silva from Benin, West Africa, wears headgear adorned with African artifacts. Gregory da Silva has becomes an Institution at the National Art festival Grahamstown. Picture by ALAN EASON
A festival favourite for many years, the ubiquitous "Eggman" was back at the 2006 National Arts Festival, making an appearance at the Village Green (CuePix/daylin paul)
The Damanhur, Temples Of Humankind, a gorgeous series of underground temples in northern Italy.
www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.ht...
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - May 18 - Atmosphere at CommonSpirit's Humankindness Gala 2023 on May 18th 2023 at San Francisco in San Francisco, CA (Photo - Devlin Shand for Drew Altizer Photography)
Spotted in the checkout line at Walmart tonight. I marvel at Time's optimism about the future of humankind. Can't speak for the rest of the world, but I see such a dumbing down of American society in general that I have trouble even imagining a future world of artificial intelligence.
day 282/365
If we cannot swiftly abandon our current suicidal attempt to ensure endlessly growing consumption, and direct our efforts into energetically devising and implementing a sustainable society, humankind (and not the non-human component of biodiversity) will discover, in short order, that it is not sustainable. At least, not sustainable at the present levels of population and rates of consumption; perhaps we will discover that thinly scattered New Palaeolithic settlements can be sustained. Provided, of course, that we can remember how to make stone choppers, or catch animals that don't want to be caught, neither of which is a given.
What might help us to determine that we have established a sustainable relationship with the non-human elements of biodiversity? I suggest we should be looking for indicators like this: the wild populations of every species of non-human primates are growing, and at a rate faster than the human population, and the area of the planet occupied by healthy coral reef is constant or increasing.
The reductionist approach to our world has not only given us every scientific advance since Descartes, but has simultaneously contributed in very large measure to our present predicament. We have led ourselves sadly astray by divorcing ourselves (but only in our minds) from nature, and in divorcing our drive for technology from our understanding of its consequences on the rate of growth of the human population and of its appetites.
Nature was never different from us. But she gave us the rope on which we have hanged ourselves: abundant cheap energy in the form of coal, gas, and especially oil. We have glutted ourself on fossil fuels, pouring it into our cities, fields, and bellies as though tomorrow would never come. We have used it to fuel exponential economic growth which has now reached the end of whatever surplus the planet could provide.
It is not just that we need interdisciplinary research, which we do, but more; we must understand at a very fundamental level that "society" and "nature" are not separate. They are simply different perspectives on the same reality. A complex reality, yes, but it does not help our understanding of that reality to treat it simplistically. The world, Nature, or biodiversity will not be dominated, and we have been fooling ourselves to imagine ourselves separate. Aldous Huxley said that “facts do not cease to exist because they're ignored” and we must not use science or technology to ignore our intimate entanglement with nature.
While we need biodiversity, biodiversity does not need us.
Any targets we set to guide our behaviour must serve on a conceptual scale that goes far beyond protecting wildlife. A target must give us direction and hope. It must be of practical benefit to guide everyday behaviour. It must be something that all of us individually and collectively feel ownership for. It must be something that helps to move us swiftly away from unsustainable behaviour – perhaps by making such behaviour socially unacceptable. Finding such a target will not be easy, and will require a great deal of research, involving natural and social scientists, economists, historians, artists, philosophers and lawmakers working together in an urgent and important effort. It will not be easy to turn this great fleet of humanity from its present dangerous course, but I am not alone in believing that if we do not do so, and quickly, there is little cause for optimism about the human future.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - May 18 - Lada McGinn attends CommonSpirit's Humankindness Gala 2023 on May 18th 2023 at San Francisco in San Francisco, CA (Photo - Devlin Shand for Drew Altizer Photography)
Roseate spoonbill with snowy egret. They say, "Humankind, how could you destroy the Earth? Humankind, what other choice did you have than to destroy the Earth? Humankind, now that the end of your species has come, do you have any regrets?"
I tell the birds that it is quite silly to preach to humans or request that humankind stop self-destructing because humankind has as much free will as a stone perched at the unstable edge of a cliff.
Things would have turned out differently if humankind had free will.
After mechanical apocalypse there are 3 factions - Humankind Army, Junk Raiders and Machines Hivemind. This is unit 1 from Humankind Army. It has shield generator on right manipulator and its main purpose - shielding the attaking units.
The silent pandemic of Tuberculosis continues its ravages against humankind, with 10 million persons contracted with the disease and killed an estimated 1.4 million persons in 2019, translating to around 4,000 deaths in each day. The situation in Pakistan, that stands fifth on the list of worst affected countries globally, is equally grim where around 580,000 people estimated to have contracted the disease, out of which only 360,000 were identified in 2019 and put on treatment. The remaining 220,000 persons were missed to notification and got added to the prevalent pool of patients that go undetected and further spread the disease. We just cannot look at these facts as mere statistics and move on. That is simply not an option – neither today on World TB Day nor on any other day of the year!
We need to know that Tuberculosis is a deadly and contagious disease which mostly affects lungs but can affect almost any part of the body, and occurs mostly in low-income people. While our TB control programme initiated in the fiscal year 2000-2001 succeeded to a large extent in expanding TB care facilities across the country during its first decade, the case detection seems to have more or less stagnated during the second decade while actually being on the decline over the past two years.
The United Nations convened a first ever high-level ministerial meeting for elimination of Tuberculosis in September 2018. The world leaders made the commitment for ending the tuberculosis epidemic globally by 2030 in line with the Sustainable Development Goals and pledged to provide leadership to work together to address the social and economic determinants of the epidemic and protect and fulfil the human rights and dignity of all people. An important signatory to the declaration was Pakistan’s Foreign Minister H. E. Mr. Shah Mahmood Qureshi who stressed the importance of fighting the TB epidemic that places a heavy burden on the world’s most poor and vulnerable.
World Tuberculosis Day is Being Observed Globally today
The Stop TB Partnership moved swiftly to delineate country level targets and actions required by each government particularly in high-burden countries. Twelve days before World TB Day last year, however, the global community was struck by another massive challenge – COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization jolting the routine activities of the Health Sector. The COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on the provision of care for people with tuberculosis. Access to diagnostic testing has declined with TB notifications dropping by 17% for all forms of TB in 2020 in Pakistan with a significant drop of 40% in quarter 2 (April – June) of that year, partly because of partial lockdowns and limited human and material resources, but also because of the social stigma of having a cough or being unwell. With the pandemic having drastically reduced the TB case notification rate, urgent actions are required. Policymakers have to rise to the challenge and ensure that TB care is not affected and its preventive, diagnostic and treatment infrastructure is not disrupted due to the COVID-19 response.
‘The Clock is Ticking’ – the theme for World TB Day 2021 highlights the urgency for intensifying the efforts for ending TB by an inclusive approach involving the political leadership, parliamentarians, community leaders, TB survivors, healthcare professionals, workers, non-profit organizations, and other stakeholders. With only 21 months remaining for meeting the 2022 targets, the COVID-19 pandemic has put progress towards End-TB on hold while decelerating the progress towards attaining Universal Health Coverage. The theme also conveys that the global investment is at less than 50% of the US$13 billion per year pledged towards this end, while countries are falling extremely short of the agreed targets to find people with TB and provide them with the prevention, treatment, and care, particularly in case of children and those with drug-resistant TB. Moving forward towards TB elimination, Pakistan will need to encompass the transformation of the political declarations to End-TB by a concrete increase in the domestic governmental spending to reduce the funding gap of the National Strategic Plan, with improved surveillance systems in place to fulfil the unmet needs of people living with TB. It just cannot be business as usual. TB needs to be placed higher within health sector priorities to match its commitments made at international forums and serve poor and marginalized population segments most in need of TB care services.
So where do we go from here – essentially, we need to cast our net more broadly by rapidly scaling up services and reaching out for the marginalized and at-risk population segments by providing them with the requisite diagnosis and treatment facilities and preventive treatment to contacts of people affected by tuberculosis, and other people at risk. Our previous experience has shown that this will require the robust involvement of communities and civil society. Transcending sociocultural barriers to TB care services cannot be accomplished by the public health sector alone. We will also need to provide services that are integrated, community-based and gender-responsive, ethical, equitable and founded on the basic principles of human rights. We will also require the help of communities to ensure that preventive measures for tuberculosis are enacted at workplaces, schools, transportation systems, and other settings where people congregate.
And let us face it, we will need to mobilize adequate and sustained resources for universal access to the quality services outlined above, with the main responsibility falling on the provinces and federally administered territories such as Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan and the Islamabad Capital Territory to bridge the funding gaps in the national/provincial tuberculosis strategic plans. Assertions of commitment alone are not effective unless backed up with concrete budgetary allocations. We also need to develop multisectoral mechanisms encompassing social safety nets to monitor progress towards ending the tuberculosis epidemic with high-level leadership while actively involving parliamentarians, local governments, academicians, private sector and other stakeholders within and beyond the health sector. End-TB efforts will also need social mobilization and mass awareness by the imaginative use of social media and other electronic media to achieve the December 2022 targets and accelerating the march toward the 2030 targets under SDG # 3 eliminating TB as a public health problem in Pakistan. To do anything less, will constitute a grave injustice to our coming generations. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking!
The writer is a senior public health specialist of Pakistan and can be reached at gnkaziumkc @gmail.com
I took the photos in this series for Birth for Humankind, an organisation that provides free birth support and education for pregnant women in Melbourne who are experiencing financial and social hardship.
You can read the story behind these photos here: medium.com/@Birth_for_HumanKIND/the-beautiful-bond-betwee...
Eastbound billboard on the Santan Freeway Loop 202 for Dignity Health.
ER kindness.
Stat.
Hello humankindness
Chandler Regional Medical Center, 1955 W Frye Rd, Chandler, AZ 85224
(480) 728-3000
Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, 3555 S Val Vista Dr, Gilbert, AZ 85297
(480) 728-8000
The Dignity Health Name
We chose the name Dignity Health because the value of dignity is woven into the fabric of our culture. Our mission, vision and values were all formed out of the recognition of the inherent dignity of each person. It also represents our commitment to delivering excellent medical care to all, to advocating on behalf of the poor, and to partnering with others to improve the quality of life.
The Dignity Health Logo
The logo represents the coming together of caregivers, services, care centers, etc., to create a continuum of care. The three sections remind us of the three dimensions of our mission—healing, advocacy, and partnering. The icon surrounds a central space, symbolizing how an integrated health system honors the inherent dignity of each individual.
To learn more please visit Dignity Health at dignityhealth.org.
The Santan Freeway is in the southeast valley of Phoenix. Onsite Insite offers billboards along the Santan Freeway between I-10 and the Price Freeway Loop 101 in Chandler.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - May 18 - Atmosphere at CommonSpirit's Humankindness Gala 2023 on May 18th 2023 at San Francisco in San Francisco, CA (Photo - Natalie Shrik for Drew Altizer Photography)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - May 18 - Brice Arlington and Joretta Arlington attend CommonSpirit's Humankindness Gala 2023 on May 18th 2023 at San Francisco in San Francisco, CA (Photo - Drew Altizer Photography)
for Our Daily Challenge topic 'Something in or on a vehicle'
I like to keep a few extra of these in the car. I give them to people who tell me they love the bumpersticker.
Ju Ming 2011: Cube
“Humankind created the cube, and is framed within it.” —Ju Ming
Rolleicord V,
Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 1:3.5/75,
Ilford Delta 400 @ ISO1600
HDR
1. -2,0 and +2 EV
2. Merged using Adobe Photoshop CS5
3. Toned mapped using photomatrix pro
The Cradle of Humankind is a World Heritage Site first named by UNESCO in 1999, about 50 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa in the Gauteng province. This site currently occupies 47,000 hectares (180 sq mi)[1]; it contains a complex of limestone caves, including the Sterkfontein Caves, where the 2.3-million year-old fossil Australopithecus africanus (nicknamed "Mrs. Ples") was found in 1947 by Dr. Robert Broom and John T. Robinson. The find helped corroborate the 1924 discovery of the juvenile Australopithecus africanus skull, "Taung Child", by Raymond Dart, at Taung in the North West Province of South Africa, where excavations still continue.
The name Cradle of Humankind reflects the fact that the site has produced a large number, as well as some of the oldest, hominid fossils ever found, some dating back as far as 3.5 million years ago.[2] Sterkfontein alone has produced more than a third of early hominid fossils ever found.[3]
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories.
In the Bahá'í Faith, religious history is seen to have unfolded through a series of divine messengers, each of whom established a religion that was suited to the needs of the time and the capacity of the people. These messengers have included Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and others. For Baha'is, the most recent messengers are the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh. In Bahá'í belief, each consecutive messenger prophesied of messengers to follow, and Bahá'u'lláh's life and teachings fulfilled the end-time promises of previous scriptures. Humanity is understood to be in a process of collective evolution, and the need of the present time is for the gradual establishment of peace, justice and unity on a global scale.
The word "Bahá'í" is used either as an adjective to refer to the Bahá'í Faith or as a term for a follower of Bahá'u'lláh. The word is not a noun meaning the religion as a whole. It is derived from the Arabic Bahá, meaning "glory" or "splendour". The term "Bahaism" (or "Baha'ism") has been used in the past, but the generally accepted name for the religion is the Bahá'í Faith.
Meditation Flash Mobs are currently taking place around the world over the next seven days. This is the forth of its kind in the UK organised by Wake Up London
Facebook: Wake Up London and / or Global Meditation Flash Mob
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - May 18 - Sister Judy Carle and Sister Mary Haddad attend CommonSpirit's Humankindness Gala 2023 on May 18th 2023 at San Francisco in San Francisco, CA (Photo - Devlin Shand for Drew Altizer Photography)
"Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect."
Chief Seattle
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - May 18 - CommonSpirit's Humankindness Gala 2023 on May 18th 2023 at San Francisco in San Francisco, CA (Photo - Drew Altizer Photography)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - May 18 - Atmosphere at CommonSpirit's Humankindness Gala 2023 on May 18th 2023 at San Francisco in San Francisco, CA (Photo - Natalie Shrik for Drew Altizer Photography)
DAVOS/SWITZERLAND, 22JAN16 - (FLTR) Zanny Minton Beddoes, Editor-in-Chief, The Economist, United Kingdom, Eric Anderson, Chairman, Planetary Holdings, USA; Young Global Leader, Jennifer Doudna, Professor of Chemistry and of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, USA, Nita A. Farahany, Professor, Law and Philosophy, Duke University, USA, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of Estonia; Global Agenda Council on Cyber Security, and Andrew Moore, Dean, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, USA are captured during the open forum session 'Life in 2030: Humankind and the Machine' at the Annual Meeting 2016 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2016.
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM/swiss-image.ch/Photo Michele Limina
both spiritually and physically. We construct each hall, then nourish them with our spiritual practice - they are alive. And in return, we receive more than we could ever imagine. #artcreativity
from Damanhur Spiritual EcoCommunity, ift.tt/1m6ot1U
“Magic Water”: water and humankind. Let yourself be captivated by twelve water images
The Hansgrohe Calendar constantly presents fascination with water in new interpretations, with a focus on people – and on the magic that water bestows. Now in its tenth year of publication, this motto is also the title for the Hansgrohe Calendar 2013: “Magic Water”.
Hansgrohe was lucky enough to scoop American people photographer Liz Von Hoene and New York still life photographer and designer Craig Cutler for the artistic interpretation.
photo by Bob Ziegler
Instead of war, we declare peace. Peace is not only end, but a means to an end. Peaceful ends necessitate peaceful means.
Humankind has engaged in war and other acts of violence for centuries, if not millenia. Thus far, neither war nor violence has brought any lasting or true peace to our lives. War isn't working; it has not resulted in peace. War is not the answer.
Do the ends justify the means? I believe that they, the ends, do not justify the means.
Rather, the means inform the ends. The means create the ends. If we want a peaceful end, then we must utilize peaceful means. The means are the ends.
So if we want peace, then we must live peacefully. Peace is, indeed, the way.
Too often war is pursued with the idea of peace as end product. The problem is that war is coercive and violent. War is often times the end product of policies or mindsets that are exploitative and domineering. Throughout human history, war has not brought a truly peaceful condition to society.
So, peace must be understand as not only an end, but also the means to an end. Peace is the way! Declare it! Ask yourself how you can live peacefully - please, for the sake of the health and prosperity of the planet and future generations. Can you do that?
Some questions that we all deserve to ask of ourselves are:
"Do I have peace in my life?"
"Is my lifestyle peaceful?"
"Do my actions promote or inhibit a peaceful society?"
John Woolman, an American Quaker who lived from 1720 to 1772 asked that we may examine our material possessions to determine if they contain nourishment for the seeds of war.
War has not brought peace to our lives. Indeed, violence has not brought peace to our lives.
Peaceful means; practicing peace in daily life; understanding peace not only as and end, but as a means to an end: therein lies hope and possibility.
Living peacefully also feels good. It really does. Being open and honest, looking each other in the eye, making eye contact with strangers, exchanging friendly and warm greetings, demonstrating and exuding positive regards for others, friends, foes, neighbors and strangers - each alike: the path to peace awaits.
We, members of humanity, are connected. All of us are inextricably interconnected. We are connected with each other. And we are connected with the bio-sphere - that thin and relatively fragile layer where life on Earth persists.
We have the power to make, and we have the power to break.
Reverend James Lawson said that violence has not brought peace to our lives. History proves him correct.
But perhaps, now, in the 21st century, there is the possibility to learn from our mistakes and make real substantive changes. Perhaps in the pursuit of truly peaceful and nonviolent means (economic and political) we can find the very real possibility of a genuine outbreak of peace.
Dear friends and neighbors, acquaintances and strangers, have hope. Have hope in the development of peaceful and nonviolent daily modes of operation. Have hope in the creation of social structures, customs and institutions that are based in the wisdom of kindness, moral reciprocity (the Golden Rule), truth, compassion, and nonviolence.
We can reject meanness. For example, we can decide to refuse to say things about other people that we would not say to directly them face to face. We have the power to make real substantive changes in our own lives. And we have the power to change the world. We can create a way of life that respects life. We can heal ourselves. We can heal the world. We can.
It's Peace. I declare it.
With love,
Berd
“So God created man in his own image…” (Genesis 1:26). As an avid photography enthusiast, this account brings to mind the images or photos I have taken of all kinds of people: family and friends (snapshots), children and old people (they both make interesting subjects), people on the street and in the malls, people at work and at rest, vendors, everyday people. Now a beautiful people-picture (portrait) includes at least two ingredients: good exposure and good timing (fondly called capturing the moment). A good exposure, for example, can show facial details that portray “lines” of character and years of hard work in old people, or innocence and inexperience in children. Good timing, on the other hand, captures a gamut of emotions: joy, fear, restlessness, peace, laughter, pain, intensity, confidence, sympathy, apathy and a whole lot more. I catch a glimpse of that complexity of the human being…and the image of God in man even in these photos. The physical features of humankind and his emotional, psychological, spiritual makeup together make him a marvelous creature. After all, he is both the high point of creation and made in the image of the Maker himself!
If my response to God is wonder and worship because of his greatness and goodness portrayed in his creation, my response to other people is one of respect. If human beings are created in the image of God, then they are always worthy of being treated with due respect regardless of who they are and what they do. The jeepney driver, the gasoline boy, the saleslady, the waitress, the balut vendor…in fact, ALL people are my esteemed colleagues in the human race.
Demolition, symbolism and religion, man’s fall from perfection led humankind to become self-conscious and feel shame for their naked bodies, I explored the idea of clothing as protection from our insecurities and innate discomfort with our nude self.
- Liking to demolish, the fall, links to lack of strength, later the fall of Jerusalem, imperfections and punishment.
- As a society detaching from religion led to more nudity and less self-respect.
- The Fall of Man, the loss of innocence and the burden of shame of one’s body is something that whether Christian or not we can all relate to.
- Criminal offences are often based on religious ideas of sin; public nudity is an arrestable offence.
Alba D’Urbano, Il Sarto Immortale, explored the relation between the body; external appearance and technology, creating garments that challenge the nature of clothing, exposing everything and nothing at once, with digital prints of the intimate naked form. I worked with sheer fabric so that the body was both exposed and covered, challenging the boundaries of nakedness.
Mosquitoes... Writing my earlier description of the Aedes albopictus photo, I wondered whether mosquitoes can be called 'carnivorous'. They do love to feast on humankind's largest organ: Blood.
Walking to the little but very pretty Japanese Garden on Jalan Raja Di Hilir (formerly Tambun Road) in Ipoh this morning, I saw this pastel-beauty in a ditchy, shady stretch. It's a so-called Fetid Passionflower, reeking rather badly of septic tank if the foliage is damaged or broken. In fact, this is the fetid or putrid smell exuded, too, by the breeding places of those clean-looking and quite beautiful Tiger Mosquitoes. Moreover, this particular Passionflower is known to be 'proto-carnivorous'. You can just see the green bracts on this photo. They are sticky and trap small insects. What the exact funtion of this is, is - as far as I know - as yet unclear. It had rained hard in the night and the petals are shot through with moisture...
The Tambun Road leads to caves near Ipoh in which some forty years ago rock paintings were discovered which date back to neolithic people perhaps 4000 years ago. Apparently carnivorous hunters, they depicted their prey on the limestone walls, e.g. deer.
Such a morning of coincidence... Maybe I should have put T.S. Eliot's description into practice: on Sunday mornings we stay at home and read the newspapers... But I'd already been through mine. No, even in this context I won't refer to the background of the name 'Passionflower'.
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF TATARSTAN
20 December, 2008
The Tatar people have already spent 456 years in slavery to Russian colonialism, which was as brutal as ever was known in the history of humankind. During this time many rulers of Russia came to power, as czars, emperors, first secretaries and presidents. Also, the social structure of this country changed: feudalism, capitalism, socialism, etc. Only one thing remained unchanged during all this time: a policy of forced conversion to Christianity, Russification, inhuman exploitation and physical elimination of the Tatar through permanent and goal-oriented genocide. At the beginning of the 18th century, according to a Census taken by Peter the Great, there were 5.5 million Russians and 5.5 million Tatars, and yet by the end of the 20th century there are 120 million Russians and the same 5.5 million Tatars.
At the end of the 1990s, Tatars in their final despair rose up to struggle with Russian colonialism and adopted a Declaration of Tatar State Sovereignty. They organized a referendum with supervision of foreign observers, including some form the USA, during which 61.4% of Tatarstan's population approved a claim for independence from Russia. Moreover, Tatarstan refused to participate in the referendum on the modern Constitution of Russia and to sign the Federative Agreement on the creation of the Russian Federation, confirming by this its illegitimacy. There are not any legal treaties whatsoever on the joining of the later to the Russian Federation.
The first president of Russia B. Yeltsin agreed to give to the Tatars as much liberty as they could handle. Unfortunately, this was the same kind of deceit as before, aimed only at pacifying Tatars and buying time. Whereas Russia was forced to agree to the escape of 14 colonies from their domination, it categorically refused to recognize the independence of Tatarstan, and it made its rule over this colony more severe, by the destruction of elementary rights of its people, including the right to have local legislative bodies and to select the president of Tatarstan. Right now, the Kremlin is appointing its Vice Roy from Moscow. Moreover, the Kremlin has deprived Tatars of the right to use the Latin alphabet as their own and has forced them to use the Cyrillic alphabet which is entirely unsuitable for the Tatar language. Recently it has deprived the Tatars of the opportunity to teach their children in Tatar.
Muslim Tatars are subject to severe prosecution, torture and many years of prison for refusal to worship in the mosques that are under the supervision of mullahs appointed by the Vice Roy administration, and for having Muslim books written in Arabic in their homes. At the same time the merciless robbery of the national resources of Tatarstan is continuing. The Kremlin is taking 85% of all the revenues from the sale of Tatarstan's oil for itself, and by this way depriving Tatarstan of their vital means for survival.
All of this is happening at the same time that the Russian Federation cynically and hypocritically recognized the independence of the Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. One can only ask what is the difference between the rights of the aforementioned republics and Tatarstan - a Russian colony? It is absolutely clear - there is no difference. The truth is that Russia practically enslaved the people of these republics by converting them into their citizens. Consequently, for Tatars there is no hope any more for the good will of the Russian colonizers to accomplish any kind of decolonization whatsoever.
Expressing the will of the Tatar People and in order to save them from entire elimination the Milli Mejlis (Parliament) of the Tatar People is:
1. Declaring support for the Declaration of State Sovereignty of August 30, 1990 and confirming the illegitimacy of including the Republic of Tatarstan into the Russian Federation without its consent.
2. Asking all governments and the United Nations to recognize the Independence of Tatarstan.
3. Creating the Government of Tatarstan in Exile for the protection of the interests of the Tatar People.
4. Calling all Tatars around the world to organize a permanent mass campaign in support of the Independence of Tatarstan before their governments and societies.
Adopted at a Special Meeting of the Milli Mejlis of the Tatar People on December 20, 2008.
Sheep (pl.: sheep) or domestic sheep (Ovis aries) are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term sheep can apply to other species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated sheep. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Numbering a little over one billion, domestic sheep are also the most numerous species of sheep. An adult female is referred to as a ewe (/juː/ yoo), an intact male as a ram, occasionally a tup, a castrated male as a wether, and a young sheep as a lamb.
Sheep are most likely descended from the wild mouflon of Europe and Asia, with Iran being a geographic envelope of the domestication center. One of the earliest animals to be domesticated for agricultural purposes, sheep are raised for fleeces, meat (lamb, hogget or mutton) and milk. A sheep's wool is the most widely used animal fiber, and is usually harvested by shearing. In Commonwealth countries, ovine meat is called lamb when from younger animals and mutton when from older ones; in the United States, meat from both older and younger animals is usually called lamb. Sheep continue to be important for wool and meat today, and are also occasionally raised for pelts, as dairy animals, or as model organisms for science.
Sheep husbandry is practised throughout the majority of the inhabited world, and has been fundamental to many civilizations. In the modern era, Australia, New Zealand, the southern and central South American nations, and the British Isles are most closely associated with sheep production.
There is a large lexicon of unique terms for sheep husbandry which vary considerably by region and dialect. Use of the word sheep began in Middle English as a derivation of the Old English word scēap. A group of sheep is called a flock. Many other specific terms for the various life stages of sheep exist, generally related to lambing, shearing, and age.
Being a key animal in the history of farming, sheep have a deeply entrenched place in human culture, and are represented in much modern language and symbolism. As livestock, sheep are most often associated with pastoral, Arcadian imagery. Sheep figure in many mythologies—such as the Golden Fleece—and major religions, especially the Abrahamic traditions. In both ancient and modern religious ritual, sheep are used as sacrificial animals.
History
Main article: History of the domestic sheep
The exact line of descent from wild ancestors to domestic sheep is unclear. The most common hypothesis states that Ovis aries is descended from the Asiatic (O. gmelini) species of mouflon; the European mouflon (Ovis aries musimon) is a direct descendant of this population. Sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated by humankind (although the domestication of dogs probably took place 10 to 20 thousand years earlier); the domestication date is estimated to fall between 11,000 and 9000 B.C in Mesopotamia and possibly around 7000 BC in Mehrgarh in the Indus Valley. The rearing of sheep for secondary products, and the resulting breed development, began in either southwest Asia or western Europe. Initially, sheep were kept solely for meat, milk and skins. Archaeological evidence from statuary found at sites in Iran suggests that selection for woolly sheep may have begun around 6000 BC, and the earliest woven wool garments have been dated to two to three thousand years later.
Sheep husbandry spread quickly in Europe. Excavations show that in about 6000 BC, during the Neolithic period of prehistory, the Castelnovien people, living around Châteauneuf-les-Martigues near present-day Marseille in the south of France, were among the first in Europe to keep domestic sheep. Practically from its inception, ancient Greek civilization relied on sheep as primary livestock, and were even said to name individual animals. Ancient Romans kept sheep on a wide scale, and were an important agent in the spread of sheep raising. Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History (Naturalis Historia), speaks at length about sheep and wool. European colonists spread the practice to the New World from 1493 onwards.
Characteristics
Domestic sheep are relatively small ruminants, usually with a crimped hair called wool and often with horns forming a lateral spiral. They differ from their wild relatives and ancestors in several respects, having become uniquely neotenic as a result of selective breeding by humans. A few primitive breeds of sheep retain some of the characteristics of their wild cousins, such as short tails. Depending on breed, domestic sheep may have no horns at all (i.e. polled), or horns in both sexes, or in males only. Most horned breeds have a single pair, but a few breeds may have several.
Sheep in Turkmenistan
Another trait unique to domestic sheep as compared to wild ovines is their wide variation in color. Wild sheep are largely variations of brown hues, and variation within species is extremely limited. Colors of domestic sheep range from pure white to dark chocolate brown, and even spotted or piebald. Sheep keepers also sometimes artificially paint "smit marks" onto their sheep in any pattern or color for identification. Selection for easily dyeable white fleeces began early in sheep domestication, and as white wool is a dominant trait it spread quickly. However, colored sheep do appear in many modern breeds, and may even appear as a recessive trait in white flocks. While white wool is desirable for large commercial markets, there is a niche market for colored fleeces, mostly for handspinning. The nature of the fleece varies widely among the breeds, from dense and highly crimped, to long and hairlike. There is variation of wool type and quality even among members of the same flock, so wool classing is a step in the commercial processing of the fibre.
Suffolks are a medium wool, black-faced breed of meat sheep that make up 60% of the sheep population in the U.S.
Depending on breed, sheep show a range of heights and weights. Their rate of growth and mature weight is a heritable trait that is often selected for in breeding. Ewes typically weigh between 45 and 100 kilograms (100 and 220 lb), and rams between 45 and 160 kilograms (100 and 350 lb). When all deciduous teeth have erupted, the sheep has 20 teeth. Mature sheep have 32 teeth. As with other ruminants, the front teeth in the lower jaw bite against a hard, toothless pad in the upper jaw. These are used to pick off vegetation, then the rear teeth grind it before it is swallowed. There are eight lower front teeth in ruminants, but there is some disagreement as to whether these are eight incisors, or six incisors and two incisor-shaped canines. This means that the dental formula for sheep is either
0.0.3.3
4.0.3.3
or
0.0.3.3
3.1.3.3
There is a large diastema between the incisors and the molars.
In the first few years of life one can calculate the age of sheep from their front teeth, as a pair of milk teeth is replaced by larger adult teeth each year, the full set of eight adult front teeth being complete at about four years of age. The front teeth are then gradually lost as sheep age, making it harder for them to feed and hindering the health and productivity of the animal. For this reason, domestic sheep on normal pasture begin to slowly decline from four years on, and the life expectancy of a sheep is 10 to 12 years, though some sheep may live as long as 20 years.
Skull
Sheep have good hearing, and are sensitive to noise when being handled. Sheep have horizontal slit-shaped pupils, with excellent peripheral vision; with visual fields of about 270° to 320°, sheep can see behind themselves without turning their heads. Many breeds have only short hair on the face, and some have facial wool (if any) confined to the poll and or the area of the mandibular angle; the wide angles of peripheral vision apply to these breeds. A few breeds tend to have considerable wool on the face; for some individuals of these breeds, peripheral vision may be greatly reduced by "wool blindness", unless recently shorn about the face. Sheep have poor depth perception; shadows and dips in the ground may cause sheep to baulk. In general, sheep have a tendency to move out of the dark and into well-lit areas, and prefer to move uphill when disturbed. Sheep also have an excellent sense of smell, and, like all species of their genus, have scent glands just in front of the eyes, and interdigitally on the feet. The purpose of these glands is uncertain, but those on the face may be used in breeding behaviors. The foot glands might also be related to reproduction, but alternative functions, such as secretion of a waste product or a scent marker to help lost sheep find their flock, have also been proposed.
Comparison with goats
Sheep and goats are closely related: both are in the subfamily Caprinae. However, they are separate species, so hybrids rarely occur and are always infertile. A hybrid of a ewe and a buck (a male goat) is called a sheep-goat hybrid, known as geep. Visual differences between sheep and goats include the beard of goats and divided upper lip of sheep. Sheep tails also hang down, even when short or docked, while the short tails of goats are held upwards. Also, sheep breeds are often naturally polled (either in both sexes or just in the female), while naturally polled goats are rare (though many are polled artificially). Males of the two species differ in that buck goats acquire a unique and strong odor during the rut, whereas rams do not.
Breeds
The domestic sheep is a multi-purpose animal, and the more than 200 breeds now in existence were created to serve these diverse purposes. Some sources give a count of a thousand or more breeds, but these numbers cannot be verified, according to some sources. However, several hundred breeds of sheep have been identified by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), with the estimated number varying somewhat from time to time: e.g. 863 breeds as of 1993, 1314 breeds as of 1995 and 1229 breeds as of 2006. (These numbers exclude extinct breeds, which are also tallied by the FAO.) For the purpose of such tallies, the FAO definition of a breed is "either a subspecific group of domestic livestock with definable and identifiable external characteristics that enable it to be separated by visual appraisal from other similarly defined groups within the same species or a group for which geographical and/or cultural separation from phenotypically similar groups has led to acceptance of its separate identity." Almost all sheep are classified as being best suited to furnishing a certain product: wool, meat, milk, hides, or a combination in a dual-purpose breed. Other features used when classifying sheep include face color (generally white or black), tail length, presence or lack of horns, and the topography for which the breed has been developed. This last point is especially stressed in the UK, where breeds are described as either upland (hill or mountain) or lowland breeds. A sheep may also be of a fat-tailed type, which is a dual-purpose sheep common in Africa and Asia with larger deposits of fat within and around its tail.
Breeds are often categorized by the type of their wool. Fine wool breeds are those that have wool of great crimp and density, which are preferred for textiles. Most of these were derived from Merino sheep, and the breed continues to dominate the world sheep industry. Downs breeds have wool between the extremes, and are typically fast-growing meat and ram breeds with dark faces. Some major medium wool breeds, such as the Corriedale, are dual-purpose crosses of long and fine-wooled breeds and were created for high-production commercial flocks. Long wool breeds are the largest of sheep, with long wool and a slow rate of growth. Long wool sheep are most valued for crossbreeding to improve the attributes of other sheep types. For example: the American Columbia breed was developed by crossing Lincoln rams (a long wool breed) with fine-wooled Rambouillet ewes.
Coarse or carpet wool sheep are those with a medium to long length wool of characteristic coarseness. Breeds traditionally used for carpet wool show great variability, but the chief requirement is a wool that will not break down under heavy use (as would that of the finer breeds). As the demand for carpet-quality wool declines, some breeders of this type of sheep are attempting to use a few of these traditional breeds for alternative purposes. Others have always been primarily meat-class sheep.
A minor class of sheep are the dairy breeds. Dual-purpose breeds that may primarily be meat or wool sheep are often used secondarily as milking animals, but there are a few breeds that are predominantly used for milking. These sheep produce a higher quantity of milk and have slightly longer lactation curves. In the quality of their milk, the fat and protein content percentages of dairy sheep vary from non-dairy breeds, but lactose content does not.
A last group of sheep breeds is that of fur or hair sheep, which do not grow wool at all. Hair sheep are similar to the early domesticated sheep kept before woolly breeds were developed, and are raised for meat and pelts. Some modern breeds of hair sheep, such as the Dorper, result from crosses between wool and hair breeds. For meat and hide producers, hair sheep are cheaper to keep, as they do not need shearing. Hair sheep are also more resistant to parasites and hot weather.
With the modern rise of corporate agribusiness and the decline of localized family farms, many breeds of sheep are in danger of extinction. The Rare Breeds Survival Trust of the UK lists 22 native breeds as having only 3,000 registered animals (each), and The Livestock Conservancy lists 14 as either "critical" or "threatened". Preferences for breeds with uniform characteristics and fast growth have pushed heritage (or heirloom) breeds to the margins of the sheep industry. Those that remain are maintained through the efforts of conservation organizations, breed registries, and individual farmers dedicated to their preservation.
Diet
Sheep are herbivorous mammals. Most breeds prefer to graze on grass and other short roughage, avoiding the taller woody parts of plants that goats readily consume. Both sheep and goats use their lips and tongues to select parts of the plant that are easier to digest or higher in nutrition. Sheep, however, graze well in monoculture pastures where most goats fare poorly.
Ruminant system of a sheep
Like all ruminants, sheep have a complex digestive system composed of four chambers, allowing them to break down cellulose from stems, leaves, and seed hulls into simpler carbohydrates. When sheep graze, vegetation is chewed into a mass called a bolus, which is then passed into the rumen, via the reticulum. The rumen is a 19- to 38-liter (5 to 10 gallon) organ in which feed is fermented. The fermenting organisms include bacteria, fungi, and protozoa. (Other important rumen organisms include some archaea, which produce methane from carbon dioxide.) The bolus is periodically regurgitated back to the mouth as cud for additional chewing and salivation. After fermentation in the rumen, feed passes into the reticulum and the omasum; special feeds such as grains may bypass the rumen altogether. After the first three chambers, food moves into the abomasum for final digestion before processing by the intestines. The abomasum is the only one of the four chambers analogous to the human stomach, and is sometimes called the "true stomach".
Other than forage, the other staple feed for sheep is hay, often during the winter months. The ability to thrive solely on pasture (even without hay) varies with breed, but all sheep can survive on this diet. Also included in some sheep's diets are minerals, either in a trace mix or in licks. Feed provided to sheep must be specially formulated, as most cattle, poultry, pig, and even some goat feeds contain levels of copper that are lethal to sheep. The same danger applies to mineral supplements such as salt licks.
Grazing behavior
Sheep follow a diurnal pattern of activity, feeding from dawn to dusk, stopping sporadically to rest and chew their cud. Ideal pasture for sheep is not lawnlike grass, but an array of grasses, legumes and forbs. Types of land where sheep are raised vary widely, from pastures that are seeded and improved intentionally to rough, native lands. Common plants toxic to sheep are present in most of the world, and include (but are not limited to) cherry, some oaks and acorns, tomato, yew, rhubarb, potato, and rhododendron.
Effects on pasture
Sheep are largely grazing herbivores, unlike browsing animals such as goats and deer that prefer taller foliage. With a much narrower face, sheep crop plants very close to the ground and can overgraze a pasture much faster than cattle. For this reason, many shepherds use managed intensive rotational grazing, where a flock is rotated through multiple pastures, giving plants time to recover. Paradoxically, sheep can both cause and solve the spread of invasive plant species. By disturbing the natural state of pasture, sheep and other livestock can pave the way for invasive plants. However, sheep also prefer to eat invasives such as cheatgrass, leafy spurge, kudzu and spotted knapweed over native species such as sagebrush, making grazing sheep effective for conservation grazing. Research conducted in Imperial County, California compared lamb grazing with herbicides for weed control in seedling alfalfa fields. Three trials demonstrated that grazing lambs were just as effective as herbicides in controlling winter weeds. Entomologists also compared grazing lambs to insecticides for insect control in winter alfalfa. In this trial, lambs provided insect control as effectively as insecticides.
Behavior
Sheep are flock animals and strongly gregarious; much sheep behavior can be understood on the basis of these tendencies. The dominance hierarchy of sheep and their natural inclination to follow a leader to new pastures were the pivotal factors in sheep being one of the first domesticated livestock species. Furthermore, in contrast to the red deer and gazelle (two other ungulates of primary importance to meat production in prehistoric times), sheep do not defend territories although they do form home ranges. All sheep have a tendency to congregate close to other members of a flock, although this behavior varies with breed, and sheep can become stressed when separated from their flock members. During flocking, sheep have a strong tendency to follow, and a leader may simply be the first individual to move. Relationships in flocks tend to be closest among related sheep: in mixed-breed flocks, subgroups of the same breed tend to form, and a ewe and her direct descendants often move as a unit within large flocks. Sheep can become hefted to one particular local pasture (heft) so they do not roam freely in unfenced landscapes. Lambs learn the heft from ewes and if whole flocks are culled it must be retaught to the replacement animals.
Flock behaviour in sheep is generally only exhibited in groups of four or more sheep; fewer sheep may not react as expected when alone or with few other sheep. Being a prey species, the primary defense mechanism of sheep is to flee from danger when their flight zone is entered. Cornered sheep may charge and butt, or threaten by hoof stamping and adopting an aggressive posture. This is particularly true for ewes with newborn lambs.
In regions where sheep have no natural predators, none of the native breeds of sheep exhibit a strong flocking behavior.
Herding
Farmers exploit flocking behavior to keep sheep together on unfenced pastures such as hill farming, and to move them more easily. For this purpose shepherds may use herding dogs in this effort, with a highly bred herding ability. Sheep are food-oriented, and association of humans with regular feeding often results in sheep soliciting people for food. Those who are moving sheep may exploit this behavior by leading sheep with buckets of feed.
Dominance hierarchy
Sheep establish a dominance hierarchy through fighting, threats and competitiveness. Dominant animals are inclined to be more aggressive with other sheep, and usually feed first at troughs. Primarily among rams, horn size is a factor in the flock hierarchy. Rams with different size horns may be less inclined to fight to establish the dominance order, while rams with similarly sized horns are more so. Merinos have an almost linear hierarchy whereas there is a less rigid structure in Border Leicesters when a competitive feeding situation arises.
In sheep, position in a moving flock is highly correlated with social dominance, but there is no definitive study to show consistent voluntary leadership by an individual sheep.
Intelligence and learning ability
Sheep are frequently thought of as unintelligent animals. Their flocking behavior and quickness to flee and panic can make shepherding a difficult endeavor for the uninitiated. Despite these perceptions, a University of Illinois monograph on sheep reported their intelligence to be just below that of pigs and on par with that of cattle. Sheep can recognize individual human and ovine faces and remember them for years; they can remember 50 other different sheep faces for over two years; they can recognize and are attracted to individual sheep and humans by their faces, as they possess similar specialized neural systems in the temporal and frontal lobes of their brains to humans and have a greater involvement of the right brain hemisphere. In addition to long-term facial recognition of individuals, sheep can also differentiate emotional states through facial characteristics.[68][69] If worked with patiently, sheep may learn their names, and many sheep are trained to be led by halter for showing and other purposes. Sheep have also responded well to clicker training. Sheep have been used as pack animals; Tibetan nomads distribute baggage equally throughout a flock as it is herded between living sites.
It has been reported that some sheep have apparently shown problem-solving abilities; a flock in West Yorkshire, England allegedly found a way to get over cattle grids by rolling on their backs, although documentation of this has relied on anecdotal accounts.
Vocalisations
Sounds made by domestic sheep include bleats, grunts, rumbles and snorts. Bleating ("baaing") is used mostly for contact communication, especially between dam and lambs, but also at times between other flock members. The bleats of individual sheep are distinctive, enabling the ewe and her lambs to recognize each other's vocalizations. Vocal communication between lambs and their dam declines to a very low level within several weeks after parturition. A variety of bleats may be heard, depending on sheep age and circumstances. Apart from contact communication, bleating may signal distress, frustration or impatience; however, sheep are usually silent when in pain. Isolation commonly prompts bleating by sheep. Pregnant ewes may grunt when in labor. Rumbling sounds are made by the ram during courting; somewhat similar rumbling sounds may be made by the ewe, especially when with her neonate lambs. A snort (explosive exhalation through the nostrils) may signal aggression or a warning, and is often elicited from startled sheep.
Lamb
In sheep breeds lacking facial wool, the visual field is wide. In 10 sheep (Cambridge, Lleyn and Welsh Mountain breeds, which lack facial wool), the visual field ranged from 298° to 325°, averaging 313.1°, with binocular overlap ranging from 44.5° to 74°, averaging 61.7°. In some breeds, unshorn facial wool can limit the visual field; in some individuals, this may be enough to cause "wool blindness". In 60 Merinos, visual fields ranged from 219.1° to 303.0°, averaging 269.9°, and the binocular field ranged from 8.9° to 77.7°, averaging 47.5°; 36% of the measurements were limited by wool, although photographs of the experiments indicate that only limited facial wool regrowth had occurred since shearing. In addition to facial wool (in some breeds), visual field limitations can include ears and (in some breeds) horns, so the visual field can be extended by tilting the head. Sheep eyes exhibit very low hyperopia and little astigmatism. Such visual characteristics are likely to produce a well-focused retinal image of objects in both the middle and long distance. Because sheep eyes have no accommodation, one might expect the image of very near objects to be blurred, but a rather clear near image could be provided by the tapetum and large retinal image of the sheep's eye, and adequate close vision may occur at muzzle length. Good depth perception, inferred from the sheep's sure-footedness, was confirmed in "visual cliff" experiments; behavioral responses indicating depth perception are seen in lambs at one day old. Sheep are thought to have colour vision, and can distinguish between a variety of colours: black, red, brown, green, yellow and white. Sight is a vital part of sheep communication, and when grazing, they maintain visual contact with each other. Each sheep lifts its head upwards to check the position of other sheep in the flock. This constant monitoring is probably what keeps the sheep in a flock as they move along grazing. Sheep become stressed when isolated; this stress is reduced if they are provided with a mirror, indicating that the sight of other sheep reduces stress.
Taste is the most important sense in sheep, establishing forage preferences, with sweet and sour plants being preferred and bitter plants being more commonly rejected. Touch and sight are also important in relation to specific plant characteristics, such as succulence and growth form.
The ram uses his vomeronasal organ (sometimes called the Jacobson's organ) to sense the pheromones of ewes and detect when they are in estrus. The ewe uses her vomeronasal organ for early recognition of her neonate lamb.
Reproduction
Sheep follow a similar reproductive strategy to other herd animals. A group of ewes is generally mated by a single ram, who has either been chosen by a breeder or (in feral populations) has established dominance through physical contest with other rams. Most sheep are seasonal breeders, although some are able to breed year-round. Ewes generally reach sexual maturity at six to eight months old, and rams generally at four to six months. However, there are exceptions. For example, Finnsheep ewe lambs may reach puberty as early as 3 to 4 months, and Merino ewes sometimes reach puberty at 18 to 20 months. Ewes have estrus cycles about every 17 days, during which they emit a scent and indicate readiness through physical displays towards rams.
In feral sheep, rams may fight during the rut to determine which individuals may mate with ewes. Rams, especially unfamiliar ones, will also fight outside the breeding period to establish dominance; rams can kill one another if allowed to mix freely. During the rut, even usually friendly rams may become aggressive towards humans due to increases in their hormone levels.
After mating, sheep have a gestation period of about five months, and normal labor takes one to three hours. Although some breeds regularly throw larger litters of lambs, most produce single or twin lambs. During or soon after labor, ewes and lambs may be confined to small lambing jugs, small pens designed to aid both careful observation of ewes and to cement the bond between them and their lambs.
A lamb's first steps
Ovine obstetrics can be problematic. By selectively breeding ewes that produce multiple offspring with higher birth weights for generations, sheep producers have inadvertently caused some domestic sheep to have difficulty lambing; balancing ease of lambing with high productivity is one of the dilemmas of sheep breeding. In the case of any such problems, those present at lambing may assist the ewe by extracting or repositioning lambs. After the birth, ewes ideally break the amniotic sac (if it is not broken during labor), and begin licking clean the lamb. Most lambs will begin standing within an hour of birth. In normal situations, lambs nurse after standing, receiving vital colostrum milk. Lambs that either fail to nurse or are rejected by the ewe require help to survive, such as bottle-feeding or fostering by another ewe.
Most lambs begin life being born outdoors. After lambs are several weeks old, lamb marking (ear tagging, docking, mulesing, and castrating) is carried out. Vaccinations are usually carried out at this point as well. Ear tags with numbers are attached, or ear marks are applied, for ease of later identification of sheep. Docking and castration are commonly done after 24 hours (to avoid interference with maternal bonding and consumption of colostrum) and are often done not later than one week after birth, to minimize pain, stress, recovery time and complications. The first course of vaccinations (commonly anti-clostridial) is commonly given at an age of about 10 to 12 weeks; i.e. when the concentration of maternal antibodies passively acquired via colostrum is expected to have fallen low enough to permit development of active immunity. Ewes are often revaccinated annually about 3 weeks before lambing, to provide high antibody concentrations in colostrum during the first several hours after lambing. Ram lambs that will either be slaughtered or separated from ewes before sexual maturity are not usually castrated. Objections to all these procedures have been raised by animal rights groups, but farmers defend them by saying they save money, and inflict only temporary pain.
Homosexuality
Sheep are the only species of mammal except for humans which exhibits exclusive homosexual behavior. About 10% of rams refuse to mate with ewes but readily mate with other rams, and thirty percent of all rams demonstrate at least some homosexual behavior. Additionally, a small number of females that were accompanied by a male fetus in utero (i.e. as fraternal twins) are freemartins (female animals that are behaviorally masculine and lack functioning ovaries).
Health
Sheep may fall victim to poisons, infectious diseases, and physical injuries. As a prey species, a sheep's system is adapted to hide the obvious signs of illness, to prevent being targeted by predators. However, some signs of ill health are obvious, with sick sheep eating little, vocalizing excessively, and being generally listless. Throughout history, much of the money and labor of sheep husbandry has aimed to prevent sheep ailments. Historically, shepherds often created remedies by experimentation on the farm. In some developed countries, including the United States, sheep lack the economic importance for drug companies to perform expensive clinical trials required to approve more than a relatively limited number of drugs for ovine use. However, extra-label drug use in sheep production is permitted in many jurisdictions, subject to certain restrictions. In the US, for example, regulations governing extra-label drug use in animals are found in 21 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) Part 530. In the 20th and 21st centuries, a minority of sheep owners have turned to alternative treatments such as homeopathy, herbalism and even traditional Chinese medicine to treat sheep veterinary problems. Despite some favorable anecdotal evidence, the effectiveness of alternative veterinary medicine has been met with skepticism in scientific journals. The need for traditional anti-parasite drugs and antibiotics is widespread, and is the main impediment to certified organic farming with sheep.
Many breeders take a variety of preventive measures to ward off problems. The first is to ensure all sheep are healthy when purchased. Many buyers avoid outlets known to be clearing houses for animals culled from healthy flocks as either sick or simply inferior. This can also mean maintaining a closed flock, and quarantining new sheep for a month. Two fundamental preventive programs are maintaining good nutrition and reducing stress in the sheep. Restraint, isolation, loud noises, novel situations, pain, heat, extreme cold, fatigue and other stressors can lead to secretion of cortisol, a stress hormone, in amounts that may indicate welfare problems. Excessive stress can compromise the immune system. "Shipping fever" (pneumonic mannheimiosis, formerly called pasteurellosis) is a disease of particular concern, that can occur as a result of stress, notably during transport and (or) handling. Pain, fear and several other stressors can cause secretion of epinephrine (adrenaline). Considerable epinephrine secretion in the final days before slaughter can adversely affect meat quality (by causing glycogenolysis, removing the substrate for normal post-slaughter acidification of meat) and result in meat becoming more susceptible to colonization by spoilage bacteria. Because of such issues, low-stress handling is essential in sheep management. Avoiding poisoning is also important; common poisons are pesticide sprays, inorganic fertilizer, motor oil, as well as radiator coolant containing ethylene glycol.
Common forms of preventive medication for sheep are vaccinations and treatments for parasites. Both external and internal parasites are the most prevalent malady in sheep, and are either fatal, or reduce the productivity of flocks. Worms are the most common internal parasites. They are ingested during grazing, incubate within the sheep, and are expelled through the digestive system (beginning the cycle again). Oral anti-parasitic medicines, known as drenches, are given to a flock to treat worms, sometimes after worm eggs in the feces has been counted to assess infestation levels. Afterwards, sheep may be moved to a new pasture to avoid ingesting the same parasites. External sheep parasites include: lice (for different parts of the body), sheep keds, nose bots, sheep itch mites, and maggots. Keds are blood-sucking parasites that cause general malnutrition and decreased productivity, but are not fatal. Maggots are those of the bot fly and the blow-fly, commonly Lucilia sericata or its relative L. cuprina. Fly maggots cause the extremely destructive condition of flystrike. Flies lay their eggs in wounds or wet, manure-soiled wool; when the maggots hatch they burrow into a sheep's flesh, eventually causing death if untreated. In addition to other treatments, crutching (shearing wool from a sheep's rump) is a common preventive method. Some countries allow mulesing, a practice that involves stripping away the skin on the rump to prevent fly-strike, normally performed when the sheep is a lamb. Nose bots are fly larvae that inhabit a sheep's sinuses, causing breathing difficulties and discomfort. Common signs are a discharge from the nasal passage, sneezing, and frantic movement such as head shaking. External parasites may be controlled through the use of backliners, sprays or immersive sheep dips.
A wide array of bacterial and viral diseases affect sheep. Diseases of the hoof, such as foot rot and foot scald may occur, and are treated with footbaths and other remedies. Foot rot is present in over 97% of flocks in the UK. These painful conditions cause lameness and hinder feeding. Ovine Johne's disease is a wasting disease that affects young sheep. Bluetongue disease is an insect-borne illness causing fever and inflammation of the mucous membranes. Ovine rinderpest (or peste des petits ruminants) is a highly contagious and often fatal viral disease affecting sheep and goats. Sheep may also be affected by primary or secondary photosensitization. Tetanus can also afflict sheep through wounds from shearing, docking, castration, or vaccination. The organism also can be introduced into the reproductive tract by unsanitary humans who assist ewes during lambing.
A few sheep conditions are transmissible to humans. Orf (also known as scabby mouth, contagious ecthyma or soremouth) is a skin disease leaving lesions that is transmitted through skin-to-skin contact. Cutaneous anthrax is also called woolsorter's disease, as the spores can be transmitted in unwashed wool. More seriously, the organisms that can cause spontaneous enzootic abortion in sheep are easily transmitted to pregnant women. Also of concern are the prion disease scrapie and the virus that causes foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), as both can devastate flocks. The latter poses a slight risk to humans. During the 2001 FMD pandemic in the UK, hundreds of sheep were culled and some rare British breeds were at risk of extinction due to this.
Of the 600,300 sheep lost to the US economy in 2004, 37.3% were lost to predators, while 26.5% were lost to some form of disease. Poisoning accounted for 1.7% of non-productive deaths.
Predators
A lamb being attacked by coyotes with a bite to the throat
Other than parasites and disease, predation is a threat to sheep and the profitability of sheep raising. Sheep have little ability to defend themselves, compared with other species kept as livestock. Even if sheep survive an attack, they may die from their injuries or simply from panic. However, the impact of predation varies dramatically with region. In Africa, Australia, the Americas, and parts of Europe and Asia predators are a serious problem. In the United States, for instance, over one third of sheep deaths in 2004 were caused by predation. In contrast, other nations are virtually devoid of sheep predators, particularly islands known for extensive sheep husbandry. Worldwide, canids—including the domestic dog—are responsible for most sheep deaths. Other animals that occasionally prey on sheep include: felines, bears, birds of prey, ravens and feral hogs.
Sheep producers have used a wide variety of measures to combat predation. Pre-modern shepherds used their own presence, livestock guardian dogs, and protective structures such as barns and fencing. Fencing (both regular and electric), penning sheep at night and lambing indoors all continue to be widely used. More modern shepherds used guns, traps, and poisons to kill predators, causing significant decreases in predator populations. In the wake of the environmental and conservation movements, the use of these methods now usually falls under the purview of specially designated government agencies in most developed countries.
The 1970s saw a resurgence in the use of livestock guardian dogs and the development of new methods of predator control by sheep producers, many of them non-lethal. Donkeys and guard llamas have been used since the 1980s in sheep operations, using the same basic principle as livestock guardian dogs. Interspecific pasturing, usually with larger livestock such as cattle or horses, may help to deter predators, even if such species do not actively guard sheep. In addition to animal guardians, contemporary sheep operations may use non-lethal predator deterrents such as motion-activated lights and noisy alarms.
Economic importance
Main article: Agricultural economics
Global sheep stock
in 2019
Number in millions
1. China163.5 (13.19%)
2. India74.3 (5.99%)
3. Australia65.8 (5.31%)
4. Nigeria46.9 (3.78%)
5. Iran41.3 (3.33%)
6. Sudan40.9 (3.3%)
7. Chad35.9 (2.9%)
8. Turkey35.2 (2.84%)
9. United Kingdom33.6 (2.71%)
10. Mongolia32.3 (2.61%)
World total1,239.8
Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization
Sheep are an important part of the global agricultural economy. However, their once vital status has been largely replaced by other livestock species, especially the pig, chicken, and cow. China, Australia, India, and Iran have the largest modern flocks, and serve both local and exportation needs for wool and mutton. Other countries such as New Zealand have smaller flocks but retain a large international economic impact due to their export of sheep products. Sheep also play a major role in many local economies, which may be niche markets focused on organic or sustainable agriculture and local food customers. Especially in developing countries, such flocks may be a part of subsistence agriculture rather than a system of trade. Sheep themselves may be a medium of trade in barter economies.
Domestic sheep provide a wide array of raw materials. Wool was one of the first textiles, although in the late 20th century wool prices began to fall dramatically as the result of the popularity and cheap prices for synthetic fabrics. For many sheep owners, the cost of shearing is greater than the possible profit from the fleece, making subsisting on wool production alone practically impossible without farm subsidies. Fleeces are used as material in making alternative products such as wool insulation. In the 21st century, the sale of meat is the most profitable enterprise in the sheep industry, even though far less sheep meat is consumed than chicken, pork or beef.
Sheepskin is likewise used for making clothes, footwear, rugs, and other products. Byproducts from the slaughter of sheep are also of value: sheep tallow can be used in candle and soap making, sheep bone and cartilage has been used to furnish carved items such as dice and buttons as well as rendered glue and gelatin. Sheep intestine can be formed into sausage casings, and lamb intestine has been formed into surgical sutures, as well as strings for musical instruments and tennis rackets. Sheep droppings, which are high in cellulose, have even been sterilized and mixed with traditional pulp materials to make paper. Of all sheep byproducts, perhaps the most valuable is lanolin: the waterproof, fatty substance found naturally in sheep's wool and used as a base for innumerable cosmetics and other products.
Some farmers who keep sheep also make a profit from live sheep. Providing lambs for youth programs such as 4-H and competition at agricultural shows is often a dependable avenue for the sale of sheep. Farmers may also choose to focus on a particular breed of sheep in order to sell registered purebred animals, as well as provide a ram rental service for breeding. A new option for deriving profit from live sheep is the rental of flocks for grazing; these "mowing services" are hired in order to keep unwanted vegetation down in public spaces and to lessen fire hazard.
Despite the falling demand and price for sheep products in many markets, sheep have distinct economic advantages when compared with other livestock. They do not require expensive housing, such as that used in the intensive farming of chickens or pigs. They are an efficient use of land; roughly six sheep can be kept on the amount that would suffice for a single cow or horse. Sheep can also consume plants, such as noxious weeds, that most other animals will not touch, and produce more young at a faster rate. Also, in contrast to most livestock species, the cost of raising sheep is not necessarily tied to the price of feed crops such as grain, soybeans and corn. Combined with the lower cost of quality sheep, all these factors combine to equal a lower overhead for sheep producers, thus entailing a higher profitability potential for the small farmer. Sheep are especially beneficial for independent producers, including family farms with limited resources, as the sheep industry is one of the few types of animal agriculture that has not been vertically integrated by agribusiness. However, small flocks, from 10 to 50 ewes, often are not profitable because they tend to be poorly managed. The primary reason is that mechanization is not feasible, so return per hour of labor is not maximized. Small farm flocks generally are used simply to control weeds on irrigation ditches or maintained as a hobby.
Shoulder of lamb
Sheep meat and milk were one of the earliest staple proteins consumed by human civilization after the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. Sheep meat prepared for food is known as either mutton or lamb, and approximately 540 million sheep are slaughtered each year for meat worldwide. "Mutton" is derived from the Old French moton, which was the word for sheep used by the Anglo-Norman rulers of much of the British Isles in the Middle Ages. This became the name for sheep meat in English, while the Old English word sceap was kept for the live animal. Throughout modern history, "mutton" has been limited to the meat of mature sheep usually at least two years of age; "lamb" is used for that of immature sheep less than a year.
In the 21st century, the nations with the highest consumption of sheep meat are the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, New Zealand, Australia, Greece, Uruguay, the United Kingdom and Ireland. These countries eat 14–40 lbs (3–18 kg) of sheep meat per capita, per annum. Sheep meat is also popular in France, Africa (especially the Arab world), the Caribbean, the rest of the Middle East, India, and parts of China. This often reflects a history of sheep production. In these countries in particular, dishes comprising alternative cuts and offal may be popular or traditional. Sheep testicles—called animelles or lamb fries—are considered a delicacy in many parts of the world. Perhaps the most unusual dish of sheep meat is the Scottish haggis, composed of various sheep innards cooked along with oatmeal and chopped onions inside its stomach. In comparison, countries such as the U.S. consume only a pound or less (under 0.5 kg), with Americans eating 50 pounds (22 kg) of pork and 65 pounds (29 kg) of beef. In addition, such countries rarely eat mutton, and may favor the more expensive cuts of lamb: mostly lamb chops and leg of lamb.
Though sheep's milk may be drunk rarely in fresh form, today it is used predominantly in cheese and yogurt making. Sheep have only two teats, and produce a far smaller volume of milk than cows. However, as sheep's milk contains far more fat, solids, and minerals than cow's milk, it is ideal for the cheese-making process. It also resists contamination during cooling better because of its much higher calcium content. Well-known cheeses made from sheep milk include the feta of Bulgaria and Greece, Roquefort of France, Manchego from Spain, the pecorino romano (the Italian word for "sheep" is pecore) and ricotta of Italy. Yogurts, especially some forms of strained yogurt, may also be made from sheep milk. Many of these products are now often made with cow's milk, especially when produced outside their country of origin. Sheep milk contains 4.8% lactose, which may affect those who are intolerant.
As with other domestic animals, the meat of uncastrated males is inferior in quality, especially as they grow. A "bucky" lamb is a lamb which was not castrated early enough, or which was castrated improperly (resulting in one testicle being retained). These lambs are worth less at market.
In science
Sheep are generally too large and reproduce too slowly to make ideal research subjects, and thus are not a common model organism. They have, however, played an influential role in some fields of science. In particular, the Roslin Institute of Edinburgh, Scotland used sheep for genetics research that produced groundbreaking results. In 1995, two ewes named Megan and Morag were the first mammals cloned from differentiated cells, also referred to as gynomerogony. A year later, a Finnish Dorset sheep named Dolly, dubbed "the world's most famous sheep" in Scientific American, was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell. Following this, Polly and Molly were the first mammals to be simultaneously cloned and transgenic.
As of 2008, the sheep genome has not been fully sequenced, although a detailed genetic map has been published, and a draft version of the complete genome produced by assembling sheep DNA sequences using information given by the genomes of other mammals. In 2012, a transgenic sheep named "Peng Peng" was cloned by Chinese scientists, who spliced his genes with that of a roundworm (C. elegans) in order to increase production of fats healthier for human consumption.
In the study of natural selection, the population of Soay sheep that remain on the island of Hirta have been used to explore the relation of body size and coloration to reproductive success. Soay sheep come in several colors, and researchers investigated why the larger, darker sheep were in decline; this occurrence contradicted the rule of thumb that larger members of a population tend to be more successful reproductively. The feral Soays on Hirta are especially useful subjects because they are isolated.
Domestic sheep are sometimes used in medical research, particularly for researching cardiovascular physiology, in areas such as hypertension and heart failure. Pregnant sheep are also a useful model for human pregnancy, and have been used to investigate the effects on fetal development of malnutrition and hypoxia. In behavioral sciences, sheep have been used in isolated cases for the study of facial recognition, as their mental process of recognition is qualitatively similar to humans.
Cultural impact
Sheep have had a strong presence in many cultures, especially in areas where they form the most common type of livestock. In the English language, to call someone a sheep or ovine may allude that they are timid and easily led. In contradiction to this image, male sheep are often used as symbols of virility and power; the logos of the Los Angeles Rams football team and the Dodge Ram pickup truck allude to males of the bighorn sheep, Ovis canadensis.
Counting sheep is popularly said to be an aid to sleep, and some ancient systems of counting sheep persist today. Sheep also enter in colloquial sayings and idiom frequently with such phrases as "black sheep". To call an individual a black sheep implies that they are an odd or disreputable member of a group. This usage derives from the recessive trait that causes an occasional black lamb to be born into an entirely white flock. These black sheep were considered undesirable by shepherds, as black wool is not as commercially viable as white wool. Citizens who accept overbearing governments have been referred to by the Portmanteau neologism of sheeple. Somewhat differently, the adjective "sheepish" is also used to describe embarrassment.
In heraldry
In British heraldry, sheep appear in the form of rams, sheep proper and lambs. These are distinguished by the ram being depicted with horns and a tail, the sheep with neither and the lamb with its tail only. A further variant of the lamb, termed the Paschal lamb, is depicted as carrying a Christian cross and with a halo over its head. Rams' heads, portrayed without a neck and facing the viewer, are also found in British armories. The fleece, depicted as an entire sheepskin carried by a ring around its midsection, originally became known through its use in the arms of the Order of the Golden Fleece and was later adopted by towns and individuals with connections to the wool industry. A sheep on a blue field is depicted on the greater/royal arms of the king of Denmark to represent the Faroe Islands. In 2004 a modernized arms has been adopted by the Faroe Islands, which based on a 15th century coat of arms.
Religion and folklore
In antiquity, symbolism involving sheep cropped up in religions in the ancient Near East, the Mideast, and the Mediterranean area: Çatalhöyük, ancient Egyptian religion, the Cana'anite and Phoenician tradition, Judaism, Greek religion, and others. Religious symbolism and ritual involving sheep began with some of the first known faiths: Skulls of rams (along with bulls) occupied central placement in shrines at the Çatalhöyük settlement in 8,000 BCE. In Ancient Egyptian religion, the ram was the symbol of several gods: Khnum, Heryshaf and Amun (in his incarnation as a god of fertility). Other deities occasionally shown with ram features include the goddess Ishtar, the Phoenician god Baal-Hamon, and the Babylonian god Ea-Oannes. In Madagascar, sheep were not eaten as they were believed to be incarnations of the souls of ancestors.
There are many ancient Greek references to sheep: that of Chrysomallos, the golden-fleeced ram, continuing to be told through into the modern era. Astrologically, Aries, the ram, is the first sign of the classical Greek zodiac, and the sheep is the eighth of the twelve animals associated with the 12-year cycle of in the Chinese zodiac, related to the Chinese calendar. It is said in Chinese traditions that Hou ji sacrificed sheep. Mongolia, shagai are an ancient form of dice made from the cuboid bones of sheep that are often used for fortunetelling purposes.
Sheep play an important role in all the Abrahamic faiths; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and King David were all shepherds. According to the Biblical story of the Binding of Isaac, a ram is sacrificed as a substitute for Isaac after an angel stays Abraham's hand (in the Islamic tradition, Abraham was about to sacrifice Ishmael). Eid al-Adha is a major annual festival in Islam in which sheep (or other animals) are sacrificed in remembrance of this act. Sheep are occasionally sacrificed to commemorate important secular events in Islamic cultures. Greeks and Romans sacrificed sheep regularly in religious practice, and Judaism once sacrificed sheep as a Korban (sacrifice), such as the Passover lamb. Ovine symbols—such as the ceremonial blowing of a shofar—still find a presence in modern Judaic traditions.
Collectively, followers of Christianity are often referred to as a flock, with Christ as the Good Shepherd, and sheep are an element in the Christian iconography of the birth of Jesus. Some Christian saints are considered patrons of shepherds, and even of sheep themselves. Christ is also portrayed as the Sacrificial lamb of God (Agnus Dei) and Easter celebrations in Greece and Romania traditionally feature a meal of Paschal lamb. A church leader is often called the pastor, which is derived from the Latin word for shepherd. In many western Christian traditions bishops carry a staff, which also serves as a symbol of the episcopal office, known as a crosier, which is modeled on the shepherd's crook.
Sheep are key symbols in fables and nursery rhymes like The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, Little Bo Peep, Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, and Mary Had a Little Lamb; novels such as George Orwell's Animal Farm and Haruki Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase; songs such as Bach's Sheep may safely graze (Schafe können sicher weiden) and Pink Floyd's "Sheep", and poems like William Blake's "The Lamb".
Geologists called for the Sterkfontein Caves to be protected in the 1890s. David Draper, a respected geologist of the time, persuaded the miners to preserve the main cave because of its stalactites, stalagmites and pristine underground lake, but mining continued in the area. Signs of the lime workers’ activities can still be seen.
2012-04-09师父开示
Messages from Osifu
Master Deeply Loves the Earth
April 9th, 2012
师父一直在争分夺秒！
Master is always making full use of every second.
师父一直在和时间赛跑！
Master is always racing against time.
师父一直在和灾劫赛跑！
Master is always racing against disasters.
太多的众生需要救度，而师父在地球上为人类奉献的有效时间越来越少。
Too many sentient beings need to be saved while less and less time can be available to devote to humankind on the earth.
师父来时便知归期。
Master had known the return date when coming here.
来时便知归期
Return date is clear when coming.你们可懂得？
Can you understand?
师父的每一句话都是遗言。
Master’s every word is last word.
师父的每一句话都是心血。
Master’s every word is the heart blood.
师父的每一句话都是生命。
Master’s every word is life.
师父的每一句话都是能量。
Master’s every word is energy.
师父的每一句话都是信息。
Master’s every word is message.
师父的每一句话都是密码。
Master’s every word is cosmic code.
师父的每一句话都是光爱。
Master’s every word is light and love.
师父在地球上住留的时间只有短短的几十年，犹如流星划过漫漫长夜。
The time when Master remains on the earth is only short decades, just like a shooting star streaking the endless night.
短短的几十年，已经过去了三十多年。
In the short decades, more than thirty years have passed by.
大救度是宇宙中最大的公益事业。
Great Salvation is the biggest cause of public good in the universe.
师父为救度众生而来，师父为救度众生而归。
Master comes for rescuing all sentient beings, returning for rescuing all sentient beings.
救度众生这是师父住留地球的唯一的意义，这是师父的全部。
Rescuing all sentient beings is the only significance why Master lives on the earth. It is Master’s entireness.
地球是一个可爱的星球。
The earth is a lovely planet.
地球是宇宙的宠儿。
The earth is the favorite of the universe.
地球是宇宙的杰作。
The earth is the masterpiece of the universe.
地球是宇宙的奇葩。
The earth is the miracle of the universe.
师父爱地球，因为师父和地球的缘太深太深。
Master loves the earth because the predestination of Master and the earth is too deep.
师父爱地球，因为师父和地球人的缘太深太深。
Master loves the earth because the predestination of Master and people on the earth is too deep.
师父爱地球，因为师父和地球所有生灵的缘太深太深。
Master loves the earth because the predestination of Master and all sentient beings on the earth is too deep.
师父深爱着这颗星球。
Master loves the planet deeply.
师父深爱着这颗星球的生灵。
Master loves all sentient beings on the planet deeply.
师父深爱着这颗星球的一草一木一沙一石一水一尘。
Master loves a grass、a wood、a sand、a stone、a water and a dust on the planet deeply.
师父时刻祝福这颗星球。
Master blesses the planet at any time.
师父致力于这颗星球的平衡运行。
Master devotes himself to balanced operation of this planet.
师父致力于这颗星球的和谐和睦。
Master devotes himself to harmony and concord of this planet.
师父致力于这颗星球的和平和顺。
Master devotes himself to the peace and well-off of this planet.
师父致力于这颗星球的祥和圆满。
Master devotes himself to the auspicious and perfect of this planet.
师父致力于这颗星球的科学发展。
Master devotes himself to scientific development of this planet.
师父致力于这颗星球的持续运转。
Master devotes himself to continuous running of this planet.
师父致力于这颗星球的净化升华。
Master devotes himself to purification and sublimation of this planet.
师父致力于这颗星球的优化提升。
Master devotes himself to optimization and promotion of this planet.
宇宙需要这颗星球平衡运行下去。
The universe needs the planet to run evenly.
宇宙不忍心也不允许这颗星球毁灭。
The universe doesn’t bear and doesn’t allow this planet to be destroyed.
师父不忍心也不允许这颗星球毁灭。
Master doesn’t have the heart to allow this planet to be ruined.
师父会为此全力以赴。
Master will spare no effect.
生命不止，奉献不息。
Life doesn’t cease and dedication will not cease.
到了该离开的时候，师父就会离开这个可爱的星球。
When Master was due to leave, Master will leave the lovely planet.
在离开之前师父会把该说的话说完。
Before leaving, Master will finish the words which should be said.
所以，每一句都是遗言。
So, every word is last word.
殷切咐嘱，和盘托出。
Tell eagerly and reveal everything on my mind.
弟子们，你们要懂得爱彼此，帮助彼此。而不是互相伤害，陷入是非。因为你们是宇宙的孩子，你们是一家亲。
Disciples, you should love each other and help each other, instead of hurting each other and falling into right or wrong quarrel because you are the children of the universe and you are one family.
你们可以伤害师父，师父会原谅你所有的过失和罪过。但不要彼此伤害。
You may hurt Master and I will forgive all of your faults and sin, but you don’t hurt each other.
你们可以攻击师父，师父会原谅你所有的过失和罪过。但不要彼此攻击。
You may attack Master and I will forgive all of your faults and sin, but you don’t attack each other.
你们可以诽谤师父，师父会原谅你所有的过失和罪过。但不要彼此诽谤。
You may slander Master and I will forgive all of your faults and sin, but you don’t slander each other.
太多的魔子魔孙邪恶势力想尽一切办法瓦解我们。
Too many demons’ descendants and the evil forces try every way to disintegrate us.
太多的魔子魔孙邪恶势力想尽一切办法动摇我们。
Too many demons’ descendants and the evil forces try every way to shake us.
太多的魔子魔孙邪恶势力想尽一切办法干扰我们。
Too many demons’ descendants and the evil forces try every way to disturb us.
你们每一个人都是魔子魔孙邪恶力量瓦解的对象。
Each of you is the target which demons’ descendants and the evil forces try to disintegrate.
你们每一个人都是魔子魔孙邪恶力量干扰的对象。
Each of you is the target which demons’ descendants and the evil forces try to disturb.
你们每一个人都是魔子魔孙邪恶力量动摇的对象。
Each of you is the target which demons’ descendants and the evil forces try to shake.
堡垒最容易从内部攻破。
The easiest way to capture a fortress is from within.
师父无条件的信任你们，你们也要相互信任。
Master trusts you unconditionally and you should trust each other.
师父无条件的包容你们，你们也要相互包容。
Master tolerates you unconditionally and mutual tolerance among you is also needed.
师父无条件的关爱你们，你们也要相互关爱。
Master loves and cares about you unconditionally and you should love and care each other.
师父无条件的加持你们，你们也要相互支持。
Master blesses you unconditionally and you should support each other.
弟子们，你们要停止相互之间的不信任。
Disciples do stop distrusting each other.
弟子们，你们要停止相互之间的不包容。
Disciples do stop not tolerating each other.
弟子们，你们要停止相互之间的不支持。
Disciples do stop not supporting each other.
弟子们，你们要停止相互之间的不偕同。
Disciples do stop not disaccording with each other.
否则，师父离开你们的时候，你们又会陷入漫漫长夜。
Otherwise, when Master leaves, you will fall into the endless night.
否则，师父离开你们的时候，你们犹如孤儿无依无靠。
Otherwise, when Master leaves, you are just like helpless orphans.
每一个弟子在师父心中眼中都是平等的。
Every disciple in Master’s heart and eyes is equal.
每一个弟子在师父心中眼中都是一样的。
Every disciple in Master’s heart and eyes is the same.
每一个弟子在师父心中眼中都是亲人家人。
Every disciple in Master’s heart and eyes is relative and family.
每一个弟子在师父心中眼中都是掌上明珠。
Every disciple in Master’s heart and eyes is a pearl in the palm.
每一个弟子在师父心中眼中都是万分珍贵。
Every disciple in Master’s heart and eyes is extremely precious.
每一个弟子在师父心中眼中都是师父生命的一部分。
Every disciple in Master’s heart and eyes is a part of my life.
每一个弟子在师父心中眼中都是师父身体的一部分。
Every disciple in Master’s heart and eyes is a part of my body.
是的师父和你们是平等的。
Yes, you and Master are equal.
是的师父和你们是一体的。
Yes, you and Master are one body.
是的师父和你们是不二的。
Yes, you and Master are non-dual.
师父深爱你们，因为你们和师父都是宇宙总体的一部分。
Master loves you deeply because you and Master are a part of the whole universe.
你们应该深爱彼此，因为你们彼此都是宇宙总体的一部分。
You should love each other deeply because each of you is a part of the whole universe.
心相连 手相牵 爱彼此 亲无间 同回归 极乐天
Heart to heart
Hand in hand
Love each other
Be closely intimate toward each other
Returning together to the ultimate bliss heaven
师父时刻祝福你们！
Master blesses you at any time!
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