Armadillo of God - more examples of

   In my post  "Fountain 23   Chanteuges  5 August" I had mentioned my initial
perplexity at coming across the Armadillo of God.

A few days ago, while searching for a birthday card for a friend, I found this postcard which I had bought at Chartres Cathedral over 14 years ago. When I bought the card I was especially moved by the humanity in the faces of the shepherds and the saggy leggings worn by the shepherd on the right.

And now I see another little flock of "armadillos".

                        Asher, Zebulun, Justus, Nicodemus, Joseph, Barshabba, and Jose*

    The shepherds, with their diminutive flock, are told about the birth of baby Jesus by an Angel-
   sculptures from the facade of Chartres Cathedral c1100

Numerous biblical figures, eg. Jacob, Abraham, Isaac and Moses kept large flocks.
At this time, the taxation was according to the number of rams which were owned.
 

  A depiction of a ram from the Aberdeen Bestiary

  a 12th-century illuminated manuscript

                                 
                                                               Castlemilk Moorit

           The Castlemilk Moorit is a result of crossbreeding with the wild European mouflon 

            which  can be traced back to between 11,000 and 9,000 bc in ancient Mesopotamia
 where there is evidence of sheep farming for milk, meat and skins.
Wooly sheep, whose fleeces were shorn, spun and woven into cloth,  began to be developed from around 6,000 bc.

What is so astounding is that Castlemilk Moorits are descended
from a single flock of ten ewes and two rams,

 and the British Rare Breeds Survival Trust lists the breed as "vulnerable",

 having a maximum of 900 registered animals.            

* The names of the shepherds who visited baby Jesus -

Asher, Zebulun, Justus, Nicodemus, Joseph, Barshabba, and Jose

from the Syrian Book of the Bee