title: Populations and production of fat-tailed and fat-rumped sheep in the Horn of Africa.
abstract: The six countries comprising the Horn of Africa are Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Somalia. Together, they cover an area of just under 5 million square kilometres and support a human population of 17.7 million at an average density of 38.15 people per square kilometre (although in the purely pastoral areas population density is probably of the order of 15-16 people per square kilometre). The Horn is a major repository of domestic animal biodiversity and genetic resources and is home to 15 million one-humped camels, 110 million cattle, 94 million goats and 102 million sheep. A list of 72 sheep "breeds" of which 23 can be considered fat-tailed or fat-rumped has been compiled for the area, although many of these are merely subtypes of a larger grouping and several are not native to the Horn. This paper provides information, where such is available, on the distribution, numbers and production parameters of the fat-tailed and fat-rumped sheep that occupy the Horn.
authors.affiliation: Bartridge House, Umberleigh, Devon EX37 9AS, UK. trevorbart@aol.com
authors.forename: Richard Trevor
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D000351:Africa, Eastern; D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000818:Animals; D003710:Demography; D014644:Genetic Variation; D010641:Phenotype; D034561:Sheep, Domestic / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*