How big does a Sheep get? Here is an overview over the average adult age:
A grown Sheep (Ovis aries) reaches an average size of 1.3 meter (4′ 4″).
When born, they have an average size of 0 cm (0′ 0″). During their lifetime of about 19.17 years, they grow from 2.38 kg (5.24 lbs) to 37.47 kg (82.6 lbs). A Sheep has 1 babies at once. The Sheep (genus: Ovis) is a member of the family Bovidae.
As a reference: Humans reach an average body size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) while carrying 62 kg (137 lbs). A human woman is pregnant for 280 days (40 weeks) and on average become 75 years old.
Sheep (Ovis aries) are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like most ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name sheep applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries. 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 (), 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; 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. Ovine meat is called lamb when from younger animals and mutton when from older ones in Commonwealth countries, and lamb in the United States (including from adults). 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 are 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; it is both the singular and plural name for the animal. 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 find representation in much modern language and symbology. 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.
Animals of the same family as a Sheep
We found other animals of the Bovidae family:
- Common duiker with a size of 96.1 cm (3′ 2″)
- Blue duiker with a size of 69.2 cm (2′ 4″)
- Arabian tahr with a size of 1.08 meter (3′ 7″)
- Suni with a size of 59.9 cm (2′ 0″)
- Goat with 1 babies per litter
- Dall sheep with a size of 1.42 meter (4′ 8″)
- Cuvier’s gazelle with 1 babies per litter
- Queen of Sheba’s gazelle with a size of 99.9 cm (3′ 4″)
- African buffalo with a size of 2.53 meter (8′ 4″)
- Mountain reedbuck with a size of 1.23 meter (4′ 1″)
Animals with the same size as a Sheep
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Sheep:
- Harnessed bushbuck with a size of 1.25 meter (4′ 2″)
- Wild boar with a size of 1.35 meter (4′ 6″)
- Bawean deer with a size of 1.38 meter (4′ 7″)
- Bohor reedbuck with a size of 1.15 meter (3′ 10″)
- White-lipped peccary with a size of 1.11 meter (3′ 8″)
- Philippine deer with a size of 1.26 meter (4′ 2″)
- Aardvark with a size of 1.26 meter (4′ 2″)
- Soemmerring’s gazelle with a size of 1.36 meter (4′ 6″)
- Black duiker with a size of 1.04 meter (3′ 6″)
- Pampas deer with a size of 1.22 meter (4′ 1″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Sheep
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (1) as a Sheep:
- Black crested gibbon
- White-faced saki
- Red-fronted gazelle
- Mauritian tomb bat
- Nancy Ma’s night monkey
- Bioko Allen’s bushbaby
- Common wombat
- Greater bamboo lemur
- Moose
- Small dorcopsis
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Sheep
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Sheep:
- Red giant flying squirrel with an average maximal age of 16 years
- Small-toothed palm civet with an average maximal age of 15.83 years
- Masked palm civet with an average maximal age of 18 years
- Hector’s dolphin with an average maximal age of 20 years
- Takin with an average maximal age of 19.5 years
- Blue wildebeest with an average maximal age of 21.5 years
- Ring-tailed cat with an average maximal age of 16.5 years
- Egyptian mongoose with an average maximal age of 20 years
- Tayra with an average maximal age of 18 years
- Northern bat with an average maximal age of 15.5 years
Animals with the same weight as a Sheep
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Ovis aries:
- Galápagos fur seal with a weight of 39.47 kilos (87.02 lbs)
- Sumatran orangutan with a weight of 39.7 kilos (87.52 lbs)
- Saiga antelope with a weight of 37.57 kilos (82.83 lbs)
- Soemmerring’s gazelle with a weight of 41.58 kilos (91.67 lbs)
- Brown hyena with a weight of 43.4 kilos (95.68 lbs)
- Giant muntjac with a weight of 36.69 kilos (80.89 lbs)
- Red gazelle with a weight of 40 kilos (88.18 lbs)
- Thylacine with a weight of 30 kilos (66.14 lbs)
- Pyrenean chamois with a weight of 30 kilos (66.14 lbs)
- Calamian deer with a weight of 39.66 kilos (87.44 lbs)