Last week, an eerie video of a huge flock of sheep walking in a perfect circle for twelve days straight in China went viral across the Internet. Although the phenomena baffled people, an expert may have an answer to the mystery.
Sheep walking in a circle for 12 days straight has people baffled
The phenomena looked like some creepy scene out of a horror movie. A huge flock of sheep walked in a perfect circle as if possessed by some unseen force– and continued to do so for twelve days straight. Why?
The blue-tinted video footage of the bizarre behavior that went viral across the Internet last week only reinforced the spooky impression.
The circling sheep occurred on a farm in China’s remote Inner Mongolia region, the New York Post reported. Chinese media, the state-run outlet People’s Daily, was the first to tweet and post a video of the strange scene. They reported that the animals were perfectly healthy, although offering no explanation for their bizarre behavior.
The owner of the sheep, identified as Ms. Miao, claimed the circling began on November 4 with a few sheep, then the whole flock joined in.
Adding another creepy twist to the weird phenomena, the owner says the farm has 34 sheep pens, and only the sheep from pen number 13 were involved in the circling – 13, the number associated with bad luck and bad omens.
All kinds of speculation arose for the behavior. One theory was that the sheep could be suffering from a bacterial disease called Listeriosis — also known as ‘circling disease.’ But again, Chinese media said the animals were healthy.
It’s unclear whether they stopped to eat or drink or whether they were still moving in unison as of Tuesday. Did they stop on day 13?
Expert offers explanation for circling sheep
Professor Matt Bell from the Department of Agriculture at Hartpury University in Gloucester has offered a theory he believes may explain the circling behavior of the sheep, the Daily Mail reported.
Professor Bell believes the reason the sheep started circling was due to stress from being left in the pen for a long period of time.
“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 [space],” Professor Bell told Newsweek. “This is not good. Then the other sheep join as they are flock animals and bond or join their friends.”
