Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
Mouflons are wild sheep native to Europe and Western Asia, and are surmised to be the ancestors of all the domestic sheep breeds which have been so valuable to us for millennia. Five subspecies are currently recognized, including the European variety (Ovis gemlini musimon) that will be the subject of this review. They used to only inhabit the islands of Corsica and Sardinia in the Mediterranean, but have been introduced in Spain, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, and many other European countries.
Released by CollectA in 2014, this adult ram is sculpted with his great head lowered to face the ground. He could be preparing to compete with another ram by violently slamming heads together, but he could also be in the midst of grazing contentedly. A relatively small toy, he measures 8.5 cm long and 5 cm wide thanks to his horns.
The main colour for our mouflon ram’s fur is a dull brown with large black patches on the neck, shoulders, chest, hind limbs, and tail. There are also white patches on the flanks, the belly, and the feet, which end in brown cloven hooves. The head features a black nose and mouth, white muzzle, grey eyes, and black and white ears. Finally, the horns are beige with black wash and blackened tips. It is an accurate colour scheme, and a well applied one overall.
CollectA’s extant ungulates have long been some of their very best products and this ram is no exception. His fur is beautifully sculpted all over, his horns are grooved, and the splits in his hooves extend to the soles. Like any proper sheep toy, his eyes feature rectangular pupils. While these may look a little unnerving, they grant this mouflon a wide range of peripheral vision that allows him to scan his surroundings without having to turn his head much. His long, curling horns show that he is an older individual. Like all wild sheep, European mouflon rams use these formidable horns to establish dominance and win mating rights. They do not, however, use them against the wolves, brown bears, and lynxes that prey on them. Instead, they will attempt to flee to steep rock faces where the predators hopefully cannot reach them. If no such rock faces are close by, the mouflon is likely to made a meal of.
Overall, this mouflon is quite a nice little figure and a fine addition to one’s European menagerie. It is generally available wherever CollectA products are sold.
I edited the tags to reflect the current taxonomy, as the European mouflon is now believed to have originated from a feral population of domestic sheep.