Hermans W A
Faculteit der Diergeneeskunde, Universiteit Utrecht.
Tijdschr Diergeneeskd. 1996 Sep 15;121(18):515-7.
Until a couple of decades ago, the European mouflon found on the islands of Corsica, Sardinia, and Cyprus was considered an independent wild species and last representative of the European wild sheep. However, recent research has shown that there have not been wild sheep in Europe since the late Pleistocene. Archeological investigation in Corsica has shown that the mouflon is not a wild sheep but a primitive domestic sheep brought to the islands by farmers from the Near East and which then became wild (feral).
直到几十年前,在科西嘉岛、撒丁岛和塞浦路斯岛上发现的欧洲摩弗伦羊还被视为一个独立的野生物种,是欧洲野生绵羊的最后代表。然而,最近的研究表明,自更新世晚期以来欧洲就没有野生绵羊了。科西嘉岛的考古调查显示,摩弗伦羊并非野生绵羊,而是由近东地区的农民带到这些岛屿的原始家养绵羊,后来变成了野生(野性化)状态。