A UK agriculture professor has spoken out about the mysterious case of the circling sheep, which saw a flock of sheep in China mysteriously walking in circles for 12 days.
The video did the rounds on Twitter this week after it was posted by Chinese state-affiliated media outlet People's Daily China.
"The great sheep mystery! Hundreds of sheep walk in a circle for over 10 days in [Northern] China's Inner Mongolia. The sheep are healthy and the reason for the weird behavior is still a mystery," the tweet said.
Dozens of sheep were seen wandering around in circles on the farm and, despite the tweet assuring viewers that the animals were healthy, it prompted concern from some of the 12 million social media users who saw the clip.
Metro reported that the woman who owned the farm said the circling began with just a few of the herd on November 4, before the rest gradually joined in. Of the 34 sheep pens on the farm, it was just the sheep in pen number 13 that were acting strangely.
However, an expert from Gloucester, England, has revealed that there could be a rather normal reason for the sheep's behavior.
Talking to Newsweek, Matt Bell, a professor from the Department of Agriculture at Hartpury University, said: "It looks like the sheep are in the pen for long periods, and this might lead to stereotypic behavior, with the repeated circling due to frustration about being in the pen and limited."
"Then the other sheep join, as they are flock animals, and bond or join their friends," he added.
The Merck Veterinary Manual published an article on the social behavior of sheep, explaining: "Sheep are a prey species, and their only defense is to flee. Sheep display an intensely gregarious social instinct that allows them to bond closely to other sheep and preferentially to related flock members. Flock mentality movements protect individuals from predators."
"Flock dynamics are apparent in groups of four or more as evidenced by willingness to follow a leader or flee in unison," it added.
Several Twitter users commented links underneath the video to a page detailing the animal disease Listeriosis. According to the page Agriculture Victoria, Listeria bacterium can be found in food, soil, water, manure, and feed, and commonly occurs in wet and muddy conditions. It can cause sheep to exhibit circling behavior.
However, the illness allegedly causes death in sheep after roughly 48 hours, so it is unlikely that the mysterious Chinese circling sheep are affected by the bacterium.
What do you think? Were you weirded out by the mysterious case of the circling sheep? It almost sounds like a case for Mystery Inc!
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