June 6, 2025, 1:02 pm | Read time: 8 minutes
They are known for their expansive hindquarters and their name often brings a smile: fat-tailed sheep. But what exactly are fat-tailed and fat-rumped sheep, how do they differ, where do they come from, and what makes them special?
On Instagram and TikTok, fat-tailed sheep are currently causing amusement and garnering numerous likes. They also appear in some crossword puzzles as a question: fat-rumped and fat-tailed sheep. While they are often showcased in the digital world due to their sometimes prominent hindquarters, these animals are important suppliers of meat and fat in the often barren regions of their home countries. Additionally, the wool of certain species is the raw material for a globally recognized trade good: carpets. However, the extra padding on their rear serves a different, much more important purpose for these desert-dwelling animals.
The Name Comes from Somewhere
Fat-tailed and fat-rumped sheep are closely related. The two groups cannot be precisely separated, as there are numerous transitional forms. Fat-tailed and fat-rumped sheep are not a single species but rather a designation for a specific group of domestic sheep consisting of various species. These include Karakul sheep, Mongolian sheep, and Somali or Hissar sheep, as well as Kazakh fat-tailed sheep.
The curious name fat-tailed sheep is owed to their most important characteristic: similar to how camels and dromedaries can store fat in their humps, these sheep store fat in their tails or rump region. Depending on size and subspecies, the animals can store up to ten, sometimes even 15 kilograms of fat in the subcutaneous tissue of their tails. The Karakul sheep, also known in Germany, typically store up to ten kilograms of fat. The forms of fat deposits can vary significantly but can make up to one-sixth of the total body weight of an animal.
The ancient Greek historian Herodotus (490/480 to 430/420 B.C.) mentions in a report about the former region of Arabia sheep with such expansive tails (“sometimes even an ell wide”) that they supposedly could only move with the help of mobile frames. They dragged their heavy tails behind them so they wouldn’t drag on the ground, where they could become inflamed. The wooden frames were specially built by shepherds for their animals, according to Herodotus.
Oldest Livestock Breed in the World
Originally, fat-tailed sheep come from the Arabian region or Western Asia. The exact dating and determination of the animals’ origin are not possible. What is certain is that the sheep are not a natural mutation but were deliberately bred. Shepherding peoples living in the regions apparently noticed early on the tendency of some sheep to store fat exceptionally well and therefore preferred to breed with these animals. Their goal was to maintain sheep that could cope with scarce and lean food while gaining weight and storing fat. Both the meat and the wool and fat of the animals were to be utilized in lean times. The fat served not only as food but was also used in the preparation of meat.
Additionally, fat-tailed sheep are considered prolific milk suppliers. Finds from Mesopotamia, especially near the Euphrates, show that such sheep, which can be assigned to the Karakul breed, were already kept as domestic sheep in the region around 4500 B.C. Thus, the Karakul sheep is one of the oldest livestock breeds in the world. In Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, as well as Afghanistan and Namibia, Russia and former Soviet republics, Tunisia, and Turkey, fat-tailed sheep like those of the Karakul breed are still commonly kept livestock. These sheep are still used for meat and milk production and as wool suppliers, such as for carpets.
About a quarter of all sheep worldwide are fat-tailed sheep. The tail fat of the animals is still considered a valuable food in their countries of origin. Traditional dishes from Persian and Uzbek cuisine are often prepared with the sheep’s fat. Among other things, it is used like bacon and skewered on meat skewers or drizzled over finished dishes. In some regions of Lebanon, the fat is rendered with spices and herbs. The meat of the animals is considered high-quality, and the milk is nutritious.1
The “Black Rose” from Uzbekistan
Their popularity is due to their reputation as frugal and resilient animals, perfectly adapted to life in barren steppes. They primarily feed on grasses and herbs, and in fall and winter, they eat low-growing shrubs and leaves. Because the animals store their fat in the upper parts of their tails, they can endure longer periods of food scarcity than other sheep and livestock breeds.
Male Karakul sheep, called rams, reach a withers height of about 70 centimeters and usually weigh between about 50 to 80 kilograms. Females are a few centimeters smaller and typically weigh up to about 60 kilograms. Karakul sheep often have a black head, long black floppy ears, and black legs. The wool is usually gray but can also have various shades of brown. It is rather bristly and firm in adult animals and is hardly suitable as knitting wool. It is mostly used for felt production or carpets.
Male Karakuls often have horns, while females are mostly hornless or have only small horn stubs. The lambs are usually born with black or dark brown fur. However, lighter colors like pink and white also occur. The Karakul is said to have received its name from the specially curled fur of newborn lambs: The term Karakul is derived from the Assyrian word “Kara-gjull,” which is said to mean “black rose.”2
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Lambs Die for Jackets and Hats
These very lambs of the Karakul sheep are also the suppliers of the pelts still known today as “Persian lamb.” The pelts received their name from their main trading centers in the Persian region. The characteristically curled, delicately soft wool is still considered particularly high-quality today. After wearing fur was frowned upon in Central Europe for years, the trade in the expensive fur is now experiencing a resurgence.
However, anyone who wants to dress in Persian lamb should know: The newborn lambs of the Karakul sheep give not only their wool for jackets, hats, and muffs but their lives—and often that of the mother as well. The curly baby fur, referred to as Persian lamb, is not shorn wool or a “byproduct” when the animals are slaughtered for food production like meat and fat. The extraction of the raw material known as Persian lamb is a cruel act, as described by the animal rights organization PETA in 2018. Since the initially curled hair of Karakul offspring smooths out just three days after birth, the animals must lose their lives as quickly as possible. Thus, lambs whose fur is intended for the fashion industry are killed shortly after birth.
Even more “beautiful” and valuable is the fur of stillborn lambs. However, relatively few animals are born dead due to natural causes. Therefore, according to PETA, some breeders resort to drastic methods to obtain the valuable raw material: Pregnant sheep have their offspring cut from the womb, PETA reported in a blog entry. According to this, a Karakul mother usually gives birth to three lambs and is slaughtered when the fourth, unborn lamb is removed. Figures from 2018 indicate that up to four million Karakul lambs were killed annually solely for their fur.3
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German Karakul Is an Endangered Species
Primarily due to the coveted lamb pelts, the first Karakul sheep from Uzbekistan came to Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. The University of Halle/Saale imported around 60 Karakul sheep for breeding purposes in 1903. By 1936, this breeding resulted in a population of around 10,000 animals—the German Karakul. In 1907, a Leipzig fur trader first brought animals from these breeds to the then German colony of Southwest Africa, now Namibia. This also developed into its own line, called Swakara Karakul sheep.
By the late 1960s, about 40 percent of the globally traded Karakul pelts came from Namibia. The steadily declining demand for pelts in the following years eventually led to a worldwide collapse in sales and revenue figures for the pelts. The association of German Karakul breeders subsequently dissolved. As the animals became economically uninteresting, the population of Karakul sheep in Germany also drastically declined—the German Karakul was on the brink of extinction. In 2015, it was chosen by the Society for the Conservation of Old and Endangered Livestock Breeds (GEH) as the “endangered livestock breed of the year.” Nevertheless, figures from 2019 mentioned only 285 ewes of this breed for all of Germany and only 16 breeders dedicated to these animals. The German Karakul is still considered endangered.4, 5