What it is
The sheep (Ovis aries) is a domestic small ruminant kept for wool, meat, and milk.
Range
Pastures from dry steppe to wet temperate hills, and feed systems beside them. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations maps the global distribution of sheep as livestock.
What happened
People domesticated sheep in the Neolithic Near East and walked them across continents. Breeds now fit wool, milk, or meat.
When / status
A living domesticate, raised for wool, meat, and milk.
Human role
We bred and moved them as fibre and food; the landscape they graze is one we made.
Sources
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Livestock Systems: sheep.