Talk:Estonian Ruhnu

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A fact from Estonian Ruhnu appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 3 September 2007. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the small population of Estonian Ruhnu sheep is thought to descend from animals left on Ruhnu Island by Swedes?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2007/September.

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Population Decline[edit]

So what happened to the population in the last 63 years that reduced it ten-fold? Trollaxor 02:54, 3 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It's my understanding, that when the Soviet Army began occupying Estonian lands in 1944, most of the islanders (which was still comprised of a majority of ethnic Swedes) fled the Russian advance to the Swedish mainland and either took their livestock with them slaughtered them. Once back in Sweden, the breed wasn't kept distinct and were bred into other sheep breeds. At the time, the island had several hundred people living there. However, a few sheep were left behind and the gene pool grew very small. Also, the island was struck by a severe storm in 1970 and most residents were evacuated to either the Estonian mainland or other Estonian islands. Now the island's small population of 60+ residents (nearly 100% ethnic Estonians) have begun to preserve the breed. ExRat 06:27, 3 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for that recollection. It looks like it would do well to flesh out our entry here, though it needs backing up before we can do so. Do you have sources? Or was this passed to you orally during school or from older relatives? Trollaxor 14:50, 7 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Question: I do not speak estonian, but I think the translation of "Estonian Ruhnu Sheep" to estonian "Eesti maalammas" is imprecise. "Eesti maalammas" simply means estonian sheep. So maybe there is somebody speaking estonian who can correct it or prove me wrong. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.76.161.4 (talk) 17:04, 13 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Eesti maalammas is the correct name for the sheep. Eesti Maalammas would mean "Estonian native sheep" - the correct name in Estonian. Maa is "land" in Estonian, lammas is "sheep". The English name for the sheep is Estonian Ruhnu sheep, but in Estonia, it is simply called "Eesti maalammas", or "Estonia native (land) sheep". ExRat (talk) 21:02, 13 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]