Recently, a confusing scene of a herd of sheep in China spread in circles non-stop for more than 10 days on social media.

The reason is still mysterious, despite attempts by specialists to explain this fearful and mysterious phenomenon.

And Chinese media published a video clip on a farm in the city of Baotou, in the Mongolia region (northern China), of dozens of sheep walking in organized, narrow, concentric circles, and confirmed that "the sheep are in good health, but the reason for this strange behavior remains a mystery."

The great sheep mystery!

Hundreds of sheep walk in a circle for over 10 days in N China's Inner Mongolia.

The sheep are healthy and the reason for the weird behavior is still a mystery.

pic.twitter.com/8Jg7yOPmGK

— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) November 16, 2022

Mysterious case

And the British newspaper "Metro" reported that the owner of the sheep farm - Mrs. Miao - said that the frightening circular movement of sheep began with only a few sheep, before the rest of the herd joined them.

Although there are 34 sheep pens on the same farm, only the sheep in pen number 13 behave this way.

The sheep continued this behavior for less than 12 days, without further details about how these sheep ate food or drink or relieved themselves throughout that period.

Attempts to solve the puzzle

There were many explanations for this unfamiliar scene, which confused specialists, and the site "ScienceAlert" - concerned with scientific news - indicated that the behavior of sheep could be due to their entry into the spiral of death, as happens to ants sometimes.

While the American newspaper "New York Post" reported that the rotation of sheep may be due to infection with a bacterial disease called "listeriosis", also known as "circulating disease".

Listeriosis affects one side of the animal's brain;

Which causes the tilt towards the affected side, which sometimes reaches paralysis.

In the event of an outbreak of the disease, usually only a small percentage of sheep are affected, and they tend to follow the circling behavior.

This infection can be transmitted through contaminated food, soil, or animal feces, and causes a range of symptoms;

such as depression, anorexia, fever, partial paralysis, and cyclical behaviour.

Listeriosis usually kills infected animals within 48 hours, so it is not possible to explain how sheep in China continued to walk in circles for such a relatively long period.

Andrew Fish, a professor of cattle and sheep production medicine at the Australian University of Melbourne, ruled out that the reason behind the behavior of these sheep was "circling disease", and explained that this infection usually affects only 1-10% of the herd.

Psychological state

Matt Bell, a professor at the Department of Agriculture at the British University of Hartpury, does not believe that the behavior of sheep is a difficult puzzle. He told the American magazine "Newsweek" that the behavior of sheep is due to their imprisonment in the barn for long periods.

He added that restraining the animals "can lead to them becoming frustrated with being in a limited pen, and they start walking in a circle frequently, and other sheep join them, because they are pack animals, and they bond with their friends and follow them."

It is a common symptom in wild animals held in limited places, and it can lead to them repeating a certain behavior without a specific goal, as once the animal behaves in this way, the behavior is transmitted to the rest, such as a strange infection.

Emma Doyle, a livestock expert at the Australian University of New England, told ABC News, she was amazed at what she saw. center of the circle and prevent her from entering it.

similar case

A passer-by in the British county of East Sussex posted on social media last year a group of pictures of a herd of sheep standing still and quiet in the form of elaborate circles.

Hundreds of sheep standing in a circle in Rottingdean, East Sussex leaves chin stroking professors baffled pic.twitter.com/6i5SH2jaNo

- Your Other Grandma loves you as you are.

(@beaudyk) April 10, 2021

The British newspaper "Daily Mail" attributed the matter to the fact that the owner of the farm distributed food to this herd in the form of rings, which caused it to gather in overlapping circles.

While it is not yet clear why the flock of sheep moved in the Chinese state, and what is their final fate.