DanYHKim t1_iz1t3wp wrote
Reply to comment by melodien in Did sheep fur always just endlessly grow or was that something that was selectively bred? Were they originally naturally adapted to be going through a lot of foliage and thickets and stuff that would keep their coat relatively trimmed? by EuroTraschBozos
There was an Australian experimental transgenic sheep that would shed it's wool all at once after being given an injection. The gene was activated in response to (A homone? An antibiotic?), and the sheep would shed in a few days. They would wear a kind of spandex bodysuit to hold the wool together until they were plucked in one go.
The shearers didn't like this, and the results weren't good enough to justify the process in the end.
invectioncoven t1_iz2gzbn wrote
This is fascinating, I hadn't heard of it before. It looks like it works on normal sheep, it's simply a peptide or growth factor that causes a temporary break in the integrity of the wool, and is metabolised after that.
I guess as cool as it was, it didn't save money, and didn't catch on in the industry enough to keep the company that made it afloat.
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