Sheep have generally very good vision. The position of the eye allows for wide peripheral vision – with each eye they can span some 145°. Binocular vision is much narrower – 40° wide. They have no vision 2-3cm immediately in front of the nose. After locating a threat in their peripheral vision, they turn to examine it with binocular vision. They have a blind spot at rear around 70° which is wider than the cow and useful when catching sheep.
Sheep tracks are never straight as sheep continually turn to watch behind them. They have colour vision but it’s not as well developed as in humans. They often react in fear to novel colours that they’re not used to, eg yellow rain gear. Sheep remember flock mates for very long periods (years) after separation.
Smell
Sheep have a good sense of smell and will not eat mouldy or musty feed. Smell is a major factor in rams locating ewes in heat. Smell is also vital in lamb identification by the dam. Linked to sight recognition.
Sheep are very sensitive to predator smells. Feed intake was measured with different predator smells on it. See below:
Coyote smell normal intake 8.38kg/head with odour 0.45
Fox smell normal intake 8.69kg/head with odour 0.37
Cougar smell normal intake 9.32kg/head with odour 0.47
Hearing
Sheep have acute hearing and they can direct their ears to the direction of the sound.
Contact Jaguza Support