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Cheviot sheep are a very old breed that originated in the Cheviot Hills on the border between England and Scotland. Originally called ‘Long sheep’ (a name used since at least 1470) or ‘White sheep’ (in contrast to the Scottish Blackface), Cheviots were a mountain breed of extreme hardiness, which would produce meat and wool on cold, wet, hilly country. It was these characteristics that led Sir John Sinclair to select the breed to be taken to the North of Scotland in the late 1700s to replace the original sheep of the area. It was there that Sir John who bestowed on them the name Cheviot. Th...

Blue-tongued lizards are the largest members of the skink family (Scincidae). Skink lizards have overlapping scales that are usually smooth and contain small plates of bone. There are more than 300 species of skinks in Australia. Australia has six species of blue-tongued lizards and three are common and widespread in New South Wales. The Eastern Blue-tongue (Tiliqua scincoides scincoides) occurs throughout much of the state, west to about Cobar but the Blotched Blue-tongue (Tiliqua nigrolutea) is restricted to highland areas from the Victorian border to the Blue Mountains. The Shingleback ...

One of the best documented and most fortuitous efforts to produce a breed resulted in the golden retriever. The man responsible for the breed was Lord Tweedmouth, who lived just north of the Scottish border along the Tweed River. With an increasing interest in retrieving dogs in the mid-1800s, a dog that could push through heavy vegetation, brave cold water, swim strongly and retrieve gently was in demand. Lord Tweedmouth bred Nous, a yellow wavy-coated retriever (a descendant of the small Newfoundland and the earlier Labrador breeds used by fisherman) to Belle, a Tweed water spaniel (a popula...

The derivation of the collie is as obscure as the derivation of its name. One theory of the breed's origins is that it was derived from the same rootstock as the border collie. One theory of the name's origin is that it was derived from a Gaelic word meaning useful, which certainly described the useful farm or stock dogs valued by the Celts who first settled on the British Isles. Although sheep herding and guarding are some of the most ancient of canine services, evidence of the collie dates only from about 1800. Both rough- and smooth-coated "Scotch" collies existed by that time, but ...

The blotched blue-tongued lizard resides in southern parts of the Australian state of New South Wales and a smidgeon of the neighboring state of South Australia. It is restricted to the highland areas between the Victorian border and the Blue Mountains. It also occurs on Tasmania and the islands of the Bass Strait.