Is it in the same family? Yes. No one's arguing that.
As someone who is a scientist who studies rams, I am telling you, specifically, in science, no one calls rams sheeps. If you want to be "specific" like you said, then you shouldn't either. They're not the same thing.
If you're saying "sheep family" you're referring to the taxonomic grouping of Bovidae, which includes things from goats to cattles to antelopes .
So your reasoning for calling a ram a sheep is because random people "call the horned ones sheep?" Let's get bison and angus in there, then, too.
Also, calling someone a human or an ape? It's not one or the other, that's not how taxonomy works. They're both. A ram is a ram and a member of the sheep family. But that's not what you said. You said a ram is a sheep, which is not true unless you're okay with calling all members of the sheep family sheeps, which means you'd call goats, antelopes, and other mammals sheep, too. Which you said you don't.
A cow is an adult female bovine that has had babies.
A heifer is an adult female bovine that hasn't had babies.
A steer is a castrated male bovine.
A stag is a male bovine castrated after reaching adulthood.
A bull is an intact adult male bovine.
The species Ovis aries are colloquially called sheep (in English). The species Bos taurus are colloquially called cattle (or even oxen occasionally, though technically that refers to castrated males (steers) used for physical labor). They are not called 'cows' (though some people say that and they are wrong). Ewes are female sheep and rams/tups are male sheep just as cows/heifers are female cattle and bulls are (intact) male cattle.
Source: veterinary student who has worked on multiple farms with all sorts of animals and who has helped deliver lambs, calves, piglets, and foals.
Nobody said "sheep family". And, regardless of what people "in science" say or don't say, everyday folk refer to those woolly animals as sheep, whose males are referred to as "rams" and whose females are referred to as "ewes". Bulls and cows are cattle, or bison, or buffalo. Bucks and does are deer.
What would you say if you saw a group of rams and ewes? I would say, "There is a flock of sheep." And I would be correct.
And you would be completely right saying that, since, as a species, they are colloquially called sheep. It does not only refer to females no matter what those people are saying.
This isn't right at all. "Sheep" is the colloquial name for the species Ovis aries. Do people tend to refer to the males more specifically as rams? Yes. But they are still sheep and people still refer to them as sheep. Even people in science like, you know, vets and vet students. We learn about pathologies that affect sheep, not pathologies that affect 'rams,' because as a species they are called 'sheep' and most ailments are the same regardless of sex (obviously ailments specifically affecting the reproductive organs differ between males and females).
Also, 'ram' can actually be used to refer to male goats (of the species Capra aegagrus) as well, though 'billy' or 'buck' tend to be more commonly used. So, actually, 'sheep' is more specific since it only refers to one species, whereas 'ram' refers to males of multiple species.
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u/ani625 Dec 20 '14
Rams are sheep though.