Thread by @Kairo_Anatomika

So...Mammals normally store fat under the skin in an even layer, but camels evolved to pile fat in one spot, so the rest of their bodies can stay cool in the desert.

Why don't other desert animals do this?

Well, they do.... but for some reason, we never talk about them..... 🧵🧵

These guys are called Fat-tailed sheep.
They're native to the Middle East and North Africa.

Like camels, they too store fat in one place on their body, keeping the rest of their bodies cool.

Fat-Tails are the oldest breeds of sheep.

Their images are found in the ruins of the oldest civilizations, scratched into clay tablets before the first languages formed.

They’re in the old testament of the bible.

This is an ancient sumerican tablet.

The circle with cross means sheep,it's got an added tail. These were THE OG sheep.

Mammals store fat in two places.
Beneath the skin, and inside the body cavity.

While both store energy, these two types of fat are not the same. Fat inside the body protects and cushions organs like bubble wrap.

Pads of fat within the abdomen prevent your organs from herniating when you're lifting heavy objects.

This is why you only see fat dudes at strongman competitions, but never Mr. Universe-looking lean body bulider dudes.

Anyone that's tried to lose weight knows how difficult it is to lose abdominal fat.

Since fat inside the body has protective functions, it's tougher to lose.

The inside of the body is also way warmer than the outside, so internal fat has a higher melting point.

Fat underneath the skin is different. It's softer, and has a much lower melting point which makes it ideal for all sorts of dishes.

Having all the fat on the tail also made it easier to harvest.

Most sheep today have their tails docked, because poop gets caked to their tail wool and attracts flies.

Since these old-school desert sheep weren't bred for wool, there was no limit to how big their tails could become.

Some had tails so large they needed little tail carts.

These guys were so important to the ancient world that they were the primary sheep type back then. And even today a quarter of the world’s sheep are these guys.

There's a bunch of different varieties with different looking tails.

Which gets me to my point.

Why IS BIBLICAL ART ALWAYS SO INACCURATE?

Jesus was a Middle Eastern man. Fat-tailed sheep are the predominant sheep breed of the Ancient Middle East, a desert breed shaped by desert people that shared their world.

But when you see sheep in religious art, they're never Fat-tail sheep. Instead they're always weak-ass European sheep. Entire wars have been waged over interpretations of the bible.

Does no one care about sheep accuracy?

I mean, how could you exclude these guys?

You always see pictures of Jesus holding his lambs or brushing his lambs.

I've never once seen any depiction of him, using his carpentry skills to craft little tail carts for his lambs.

Sheep depicted in religious art is never the right type of sheep that would have been endemic to the ancient Middle East and it's such a GODDAMN SHAME.

Livestock, Agriculture and Food is an integral part of any culture and we ALL need to be pushing for more realistic sheep in religious art.

#FATTAILSFORJESUS

Here's a follow-up done with some additional detail about these guys:

https://twitter.com/Kairo_Anatomika/status/1761154160047583426?t=brr5jVRbXlqpDRDNk33IPQ&s=19

@ot_ford source: archeorient.hypotheses.org/24818