Question

You must be familiar with the following nursery rhymes:(i) ‘Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool.’(ii) ‘Mary had a little lamb, whose fleece was white as snow.’Answer the following:(a) Which parts of the black sheep have wool?(b) What is meant by the white fleece of the lamb?

Answer 1

a) The hairs of black sheep contain wool.
b) white fleece are white hairs of lamb

Answer 2

Black sheep has wool on its hairy skin.  

Explanation:

• Wool is produced by follicular cells present on the skin layers, epidermis and dermis.
• There are two types of follicles – primary and secondary follicles. The type of wool varies with the follicle type.
• Primary follicle produces fibers like true, kemp, and medullated wool fibers; whereas secondary follicles produce only true wool fibers.
• The wool of black sheep is not commercially viable because it cannot be dyed as like light-colored wool and also because of its rarity.  

The thick woolen coat on the sheep’s or lamb’s body is called fleece.

• The color of the fleece depends upon the color of the lamb or sheep. This fleece is usually obtained through shearing as a single unit of wool.