Swamp Sheep

The Swamp Sheep (Ovis aceras hunshuiensis, or in some literature simply Ovis hunshuiensis) was once the largest endemic mammal in Nir Province of the Aurlûnor Velande. Its (sub)species name refers to the Hunshui River, which flows through Nir; the Hunshui River Delta created a large swath of the province's infamous wetlands of which the Swamp Sheep lived in exclusively.

The term "Swamp Sheep" is its common name in the Traveler's Tongue; its common name in Aurlûnoren is hělyáng (párzì: 沼样)

The Swamp Sheep had a few distinct traits that separated it from other sheep; it had a diet more preferential to swamp plants and it had wider hooves than other sheep, to walk on soft, muddy ground with ease. They were also slightly taller than common wild sheep. Some zoologists use these traits to claim the Swamp Sheep as a separate species, and not just a subspecies of the common Rathnir Sheep Ovis aceras, but the animal was otherwise very much similar to the other subspecies of sheep.

Regardless of its messy taxonomy, habitat loss and overhunting would drive the Swamp Sheep to extinction. Though the sheep had been hunted by the Yi'yen Guren and other swamp peoples sustainably for thousands of years, the population boom in the province after its integration into the the Aurlûnor Velande put too much pressure on the animal. The last known Swamp Sheep was killed on 7/13/2021 (or 931 in the the Twin Dragon calendar) by Breton Salvey, who was trying to make a bed and get food. Its remains lie preserved at the Temple of the Four Sages in Helemar.