Here's some interesting facts about these little guys.
Home: "The sheep on display at Brooklands Zoo are on loan from Avonstour Island which is a 50 acre farm nestled in the hills of Taranaki. They are a breed that developed in the wild."
History: "At the back of the old Avonstour Island farm they had a large gorge that formed the boundary. At this time they had a lot of rare and heritage sheep breeds rotating around the property in which annually they lost a few of each breed into the large gorge area where they survived and bred for well over ten years."
"The breeds were made up of Pitt Island, Arapawa Island, Gotland, Damara, Wiltshire Horn, Dorset Horn, Mohaka and Herbert sheep. They continued to breed and multiplied in the wild. Years later, when a pine forest was harvested, they mustered approximately 22 of these sheep and have since bred them for a further 15 years. This breed is registered with the Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand."
