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Animals in Iceland
The Icelandic
Sheepdog
The Icelandic Sheepdog is Iceland´s only native dog. It
was brought to Iceland with the Viking settlers and has over
the centuries adapted to Iceland and the hard struggle for survival.
It is loyal, cheerful and friendly, an ideal family-dog.
The Icelandic sheep
The Icelandic sheep is one of the world´s oldest and purest
breeds of sheep. The first vikings brought sheep with them to
Iceland. The breed is short-tailed and it has many variations
of colors and patterns.
The sheep are allowed to graze freely in the mountain areas over
the summer, feeding on the grass and wild herbs that give the
Icelandic lamb its distinctive flavour.
In the fall the farmers go on horses and collect the sheep. They
are rounded and then sorted by earmarks, where each farmer has
his own.
The Icelandic horse
Icelandic horses come in 100 marvellous colour combinations.
They have sleek, glossy coats during the warm months, but
develope a furry, thick winter coat for cold weather. Due
to their strength,
intelligence and loyal and friendly personality, both children
and adults delight in ownership. What makes the Icelandic
horse unique is that it has five gaites while other horses
usually
have only three or four.
The Icelandic Cow
In Iceland we have special Icelandic cows, a race which has
been isolated in the country since about 900. The cows
have many different
colours, red, white, gray and black. The cows are rather
small, but still they give us a lot of milk. The milk is
very good
for drinking, and many products are made of it.
Because of the weather during the wintertime the cows
have to be kept in the stable for the biggest part of
the year.
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