Leader sheep's exceptional intelligence not folklore, study proves (2015)

I thought this was super interesting. Initially saw it on Wikipedia but this is the best article I could find that puts most of the info in one spot. Wikipedia[1] describes it as:

> A unique strain within the population is the Leader sheep, which carries a hereditary ability or predisposition to lead other sheep safely over dangerous ground.

Picture of such a sheep: https://www.animalgeneticresources.net/wp-content/uploads/20... (from [2])

When looking for leader sheep, Iceland immediately comes up so it does seem to be unique to that environment. I can only imagine the evolutionary pressures that led to this, and it makes me wonder if other animals (including humans) have hereditary traits. (Perhaps there is some logic to a royal line after all! (jk)) Sheep aren't even native to that island; they were introduced only a few hundred years ago yet this trait apparently doesn't exist elsewhere.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_sheep

[2] https://www.animalgeneticresources.net/index.php/country/ice...