sheep sheep breed sheep descended animals brought virginia 18th century 1930s 1940s storm conditions forced island residents evacuate leaving sheep sheep adapted environment free human intervention feral breed preserved organizations relevance american history resemblance historical american sheep possesses traits somewhat lost modern breeds breed characteristics sheep feral breed descended sheep abandoned 1930s 1940s believed breed descended breed possibly improved leicester english breeds sheep relatively small tough hardy weigh average pounds pounds born spotted adults white black males females horns half total population sheep commonly modern agriculture largely endangered status modern breeds bred characteristics including maximum size yield considered important preserve insight american history traits modern sheep lack foraging skill efficient use food easy history 17th century sheep colonists time contemporary english breeds known barrier islands taken spanish ships wrecked let sheep loose colonists combination sheep flocks island open space lacked predators colonists allowed livestock free rounding mark use meat wool hurricane destroyed island inhabitants abandoned settled areas sheep left fend feral state nature bought island 1970s rounded sheep removed prevent breed extremely rare today fewer registered animals listed critical research conservation nature bought sheep bought private owners taken studied determine relatively free parasites researchers concluded sheep special resistance parasites simply isolated habitat sheep sent institutions george_washington birthplace preservation collected samples sheep program aims preserve genetic material animals significant american history sheep resemble small short sheep raised colonial farms meat wool cross sheep combination called american site sheep exhibits recreate look feel historical farm sheep population small preservation breed pure line threaten breed health increased risk pairing bad genes looking sheep reported breeders response breeders crossed sheep breeds including sheep bred offspring pure sheep producing pure sheep addition genetic diversity
Hog Island sheep