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The Cypriot mouflon

The agrino — king of the Paphos forest

The Cypriot mouflon — the agrino, Αγρινό — is a wild sheep that exists nowhere else on earth. Its whole world is the Paphos forest, and it is believed to have reached the island around 8000 BC.

It very nearly did not survive. Hunting brought the animal close to extinction, and it has been protected on the island since 1930. That the mouflon is now a national emblem, appearing on coins and on the tail of the national airline in its day, is a consequence of how narrowly it was saved.

How to recognise one

The coat is short, reddish to dark brown, with dark markings across the saddle. Males carry horns; females may be horned or polled. In a mature animal the horns curl almost into a full circle. Males weigh around 50kg, females around 35kg.

Shy, and almost always at a distance — the mouflon keeps well away from roads and people.

The year of a mouflon

Mating runs from late autumn into early winter, with males fighting for the right to mate. Sexual maturity comes between two and four years; gestation lasts five months and produces one or two lambs.

If you are walking the Paphos forest in any case, keep your eyes on the ridgelines rather than the path. The agrino is usually gone before you have registered it — a shape moving uphill through the pines.

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