Sheep Sounds

What sound does a sheep make?

Sheep baa — the technical word is 'bleating' — and every sheep has its own recognizable voice, from deep gravelly baas to high wobbly ones. Flocks are constantly chatting: ewes call lambs, friends answer friends, and everyone complains loudly at feeding time.

Sheep are actually excellent at voices and faces: a ewe can identify her own lambs by bleat alone, and research shows sheep can remember dozens of individual sheep and even human faces for years.

About the Sheep

Sheep are domesticated ruminants raised for their wool, meat, and milk. These gentle animals have been associated with human civilization for thousands of years. Sheep are known for their thick, woolly coats which are sheared annually. They are herbivores with a four-chambered stomach that allows them to digest tough plant material. Sheep are social animals that prefer to stay in flocks for safety, following a leader. They have excellent hearing and can rotate their ears to pinpoint sounds without turning their heads. Contrary to popular belief, sheep are quite intelligent, able to recognize individual human and sheep faces, and have good spatial memory. Different breeds of sheep have been developed for various purposes, from fine wool production to meat quality.

Sheep questions

What sound does a sheep make?

Sheep baa (bleat), and every sheep's voice is unique — mothers and lambs find each other by sound in a flock of hundreds.

Are sheep smart?

Smarter than their reputation! Sheep can recognize dozens of faces — sheep and human — remember them for years, and learn their own names.