Ascension : Met Office Ascension Island Base - The Met Office Weather Report
Submitted by The Islander (Met Office) 11.02.2010 (Article Archived on 25.02.2010)

Do sheep eat apples?

 Past week’s Weather

 Do sheep eat apples?

I’ve had the pleasure of my Dad’s company for the last couple of weeks, and one of the things that initially amused him was the Ewe and Lamb that run up and down the cliff ledge at the edge of my garden (garden is a very loose term when applied to this patch of land!) Then as time went by the Ewe started to show a pronounced limp and he started to worry about exactly what they were eating and drinking. Next thing I know my Dad has got a bucket perched on the ledge for them to drink from, which they did regularly and is making me look on the internet to see if sheep eat apples. Not really was the answer, but they do like them. So a chopped apple was put out for them which were eaten very quickly. And so the filling of the sheep bucket and chopping of apples became part of my Dad’s strenuous Ascension routine.

Whilst I was searching on the internet for what exactly sheep eat, I came across an article about how climate change was affecting the size of sheep. On the remote Scottish Island of Hirta, sheep have seen a 5% reduction in size over the last 23 years. This has been put down to natural selection and small sheep being better adapted to survive the increasingly mild winters. Grass is now available for a much large proportion of the year, and so survival conditions are not so difficult. This means that small lambs and slower growing sheep are surviving and becoming increasingly prevalent in the environment. I for one am hope this affect of climate change transfers to the Human population, as a 5% decrease in my weight over the next 23 years would be greatly received