Photo Credit: featuredcreature.com
Meet what must be the most adorable sheep in the world – and possibly one of the cutest animals in existence, the Valais Black Nose sheep.
At first glance, you may not even think they’re real. Many people have mistaken them for some type of felt project, simply because they’ve never seen anything like them.
Photo Credit: fuzzytoday.com
The Blacknose sheep are from the Valais region of Switzerland, raised for their wool and for meat, though they’re white coat is incredibly soft and fluffy, which makes it a bit hard to comprehend enjoying them as a meal – don’t you just want to cuddle up with one?
While they are super cuddly, they’re actually pretty tough too. The sheep are well-suited for extreme climate conditions found in high mountain regions and graze on steep, rocky slopes. They’ve been around for quite a while too, with the earliest mention of the breed dating back to 1400 A.D., although they weren’t actually recognized as a separate breed until 1962.
Today, they can be found throughout Switzerland, Germany and the United Kingdom.
If you’re thinking about getting one or two of your own, they don’t come cheaply. A recent article in the U.K.’s Daily Mail notes that one Scottish farmer paid £55,000, nearly $87,000, for his 11 Valais Blacknose sheep – plus thousands more on transportation and vet bills. They’re so valuable that he spent another $7,800 to install CCTV and bring in guard dogs to prevent them from being stolen.
Photo Credit: pininterest.com
