Abstract
The existence of fat-tailed sheep in Central and Western Asia has long been noticed by various travellers and historians. Considerable folklore has accumulated on the subject of their huge tails. For example, some authors tell of the wheeled supports put under the tails so that they will not be injured when the sheep walk. Others have said that shepherds cut the tails of the rams, and having extracted the fat, sew them up again so carefully that no trace of incision can be seen. The big-tailed sheep of the Ta-Yueh-Shih 大月氏, which are said die from overgrowth of the tail if the fat is not extracted, are believed to be identical to the fattailed sheep found in the southern part of Russian Turkistan formerly dominated by the Ta-Yueh-Shih or Kushans. Chinese records are cited and compared with those of Western authors.
