Beta Orange 135

I stalked this guy, BO135, for ages trying to get a photo of him.

BO135 is extra extra special because he has 'scurred' (deformed) horns. Because the males fight with each other to mate with females, it is unlikely that he will sire many lambs because he will always be beaten by males with large, normal horns. Therefore, it is unusual that sheep with rubbish horns still exist in the population.

I am trying to find the gene that leads to differences in horn types and hopefully work out why genes giving scurred horns persist in the population.

BO135 is also extra extra EXTRA special, because he was a lamb that I helped to catch and tag the last time I was on Kilda in April 2007.

The woman who runs the project thinks the scurred males are really ugly.

I think they are awesome :)