The
Journal of Heredity
By American Genetic Association
Published by American breeders association [etc.]
1910, 1914
Origin of
Karakul Sheep
Black Danadar the
Original Fur-bearing Stock of Central Asia —
This Crossed with
White, Fine-wool Afghan Sheep Produced the Gray
Danadar Which in Turn
Crossed with Fatrump Sheep Produced the Small
Arabi or Karakul
Breed — Industry in Turkestan Being Ruined
by Natives.
DR. C. C. Young
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.
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Page 445
SOME 26 years ago Dr.
Sinitzin, who was at the time employed by the
Russian government in Tauria as senior animal
husbandman, made a trip to Bokharain Russian
Turkestan and, while there, made an effort to
describe the various breeds of sheep that produce
valuable lamb skins. Up to that time no attempt
had been made by anyone to classify these breeds,
and practically nothing had been written on the
subject save for the brief mention made by Pallas
in his book, in which he so ably described some
of the other Asiatic breeds of sheep. It is
Sinitzin who first learned that the word Kara Kul
("black lake"), was a term not employed
by the natives, but that the Russians who came
prior to him to Bokhara in quest of fur-bearing
sheep, and who were in the habit of making their
purchases in the Kara Kul district near the
village of the same name, situated near the
railway station, on a small river, both of which
also bear the name, had transferred this
geographical name to the sheep.
It was also Dr. Sinitzin who first gave the world
the terms used by the natives in designating
certain breeds of fur- bearing sheep: Arabi,
Duzbai, Shiraz, and so on. Although he made
several grave errors in his classification, he
nevertheless deserves credit for having done a
large amount of valuable pioneer work.
Dr. Sinitzin describes (1)
the small Arabi, (2), the large Arabi, (3), the
Duzbai, (4), the Shiraz and (5), the Zigai, among
the Bukharin breeds of sheep. He names the small
Arabi as the origin of all the fur-bearing sheep
of Central Asia, including the Malitch of Crimea,
the Tshushka of Bessarabia and the Reshetilev and
Sokoliev of Poltova province. According to this
theory, the small Arabi is descended from the
Marnai, the oldest breed of domesticated sheep,
petrified specimens of which, dating back some
8000 years, were found by Duerst in excavating
the ruins of Anau (Transcaspia). Sinitzin resorts
to the Bible for further history and claims that
Jacob won Rachel by knowing how to breed the
pigmented sheep that are the pride of the Sarts
even today.
But as all Karakul breeds
are broadtails (Ovis platyurd), and as the
petrified sheep above mentioned proved to be a
fatrump (Ovis steatopygd), Dr. Sinitzin's theory
can not be taken very seriously. My own
experience has shown me that when a longtail
sheep is crossed with a fatrump, the result is a
broadtail, and while the first cross looks more
like a typical Russian fattail (called by the
Russians Jirnochvostaja), the second and third
crosses can not be classified otherwise than as
broadtails. I therefore concluded that the
Karakul breeds resulted from crosses of longtail
sheep on fatrumps. I have often found Karakul
sheep, closely answering Sinitzin's description
of the Small Arabi, which had rather long tails
with so little fat accumulation at the base that
the tail resembled that of a longtail sheep,
rather than that of a broadtail.
THE TEST OF PIGMENT.
In all these cases that came
under my observation, I found that the black
pigment in the wool of the mature sheep
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