Sheep

{
 "title": "Sheep",
 "rows": [
 {
 "field": "8<span class=\"hidden-alt-text\">HP</span><span class=\"nowrap mc-hearts\"><span class=\"iconbar pixel-image nowrap\" style=\"--icon-offset:-1px;\" title=\"4 hearts\">(link to File:Heart (icon).png article, displayed as 9px|link=|alt=❤️)(link to File:Heart (icon).png article, displayed as 9px|link=|alt=❤️)(link to File:Heart (icon).png article, displayed as 9px|link=|alt=❤️)(link to File:Heart (icon).png article, displayed as 9px|link=|alt=❤️)</span></span>",
 "label": "(link to Health article, displayed as Health points)"
 },
 {
 "field": "Passive",
 "label": "Behavior"
 },
 {
 "field": "<span class=\"nowrap\"><span class=\"sprite-file\" style=\"\">(link to File:EntitySprite animal.png article, displayed as 16x16px|link=Animal|alt=|class=pixel-image|)</span>(link to Animal article, displayed as <span class=\"sprite-text\">Animal</span>)</span>",
 "label": "(link to Mob type article, displayed as Mob type)"
 },
 {
 "field": "'''Adult:'''<br>Height: 1.3 blocks<br>Width: 0.9 blocks<br>\n'''Baby:'''<br>Height: 0.65 blocks<br>Width: 0.45 blocks",
 "label": "(link to Hitbox article, displayed as Hitbox size)"
 },
 {
 "field": "0.23",
 "label": "(link to Attribute#Movement_speed article, displayed as Speed)"
 },
 {
 "field": "(link to Grass block article, displayed as Grass blocks) with at least two blocks of space above in most <span class=\"nowrap\"><span class=\"sprite-file\" style=\"\">(link to File:EnvSprite overworld.png article, displayed as 16x16px|link=Overworld|alt=|class=pixel-image|)</span>(link to Overworld article, displayed as <span class=\"sprite-text\">Overworld</span>)</span> biomes.",
 "label": "(link to Mob spawning article, displayed as Spawn)"
 },
 {
 "field": "(values exceeds 1000 characters...)",
 "label": "Usable items"
 }
 ],
 "invimages": [
 "Sheep Spawn Egg"
 ],
 "images": [
 "White Sheep.png",
 "Sheared White Sheep.png",
 "Baby White Sheep JE4 BE7.png",
 "Light Gray Sheep.png",
 "Sheared Light Gray Sheep.png",
 "Baby Light Gray Sheep JE6 BE6.png",
 "Gray Sheep.png",
 "Sheared Gray Sheep.png",
 "Baby Gray Sheep JE6 BE6.png",
 "Black Sheep.png",
 "Sheared Black Sheep.png",
 "Baby Black Sheep JE6 BE6.png",
 "Brown Sheep.png",
 "Sheared Brown Sheep.png",
 "Baby Brown Sheep JE6 BE6.png",
 "Red Sheep.png",
 "Sheared Red Sheep.png",
 "Baby Red Sheep JE6 BE6.png",
 "Orange Sheep.png",
 "Sheared Orange Sheep.png",
 "Baby Orange Sheep JE6 BE6.png",
 "Yellow Sheep.png",
 "Sheared Yellow Sheep.png",
 "Baby Yellow Sheep JE6 BE6.png",
 "Lime Sheep.png",
 "Sheared Lime Sheep.png",
 "Baby Lime Sheep JE6 BE6.png",
 "Green Sheep.png",
 "Sheared Green Sheep.png",
 "Baby Green Sheep JE6 BE6.png",
 "Cyan Sheep.png",
 "Sheared Cyan Sheep.png",
 "Baby Cyan Sheep JE6 BE6.png",
 "Light Blue Sheep.png",
 "Sheared Light Blue Sheep.png",
 "Baby Light Blue Sheep JE6 BE6.png",
 "Blue Sheep.png",
 "Sheared Blue Sheep.png",
 "Baby Blue Sheep JE6 BE6.png",
 "Purple Sheep.png",
 "Sheared Purple Sheep.png",
 "Baby Purple Sheep JE6 BE6.png",
 "Magenta Sheep.png",
 "Sheared Magenta Sheep.png",
 "Baby Magenta Sheep JE6 BE6.png",
 "Pink Sheep.png",
 "Sheared Pink Sheep.png",
 "Baby Pink Sheep JE6 BE6.png",
 "Jeb Sheep JE5.webp",
 "Sheared Jeb Sheep.webp",
 "Baby Jeb Sheep JE4 BE4.webp"
 ]
}

A sheep is a common passive mob that supplies wool and raw mutton and is found in many of the grassy biomes.

The sheep color is determined by the type of biome the sheep spawns in.

If a monster spawner is set to spawn sheep, the sheep model spinning inside appears with one of the six naturally spawning colors. Independently from the displayed color, all six variants are able to spawn and the usual chances apply. To guarantee that sheep always spawn with the desired color, additional NBT tags can be applied to the monster spawner, utilizing the Color tag.

In Java Edition, 4 sheep may spawn above grass blocks at a light level of 9 and higher, even in snowy taigas, but not in pale gardens.

In Bedrock Edition, 2 to 3 sheep spawn during the world generation on grass blocks at the surface with at least a 2 block space above at a light level of 7 and higher, except in pale gardens, snowy plains, ice spikes, or wooded badlands. They later spawn individually on grassy biomes.

Two sheep sometimes spawn in shepherd houses, butcher houses, and animal pens in villages.

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

1–3XP experience orbs if killed by a player or tamed wolf.

Killing a baby sheep yields no items nor experience.

When sheared, sheep give 1–3 wool and do not take any damage. This is not affected by Fortune or Looting.

Upon successful breeding, 1–7XP is dropped.

Sheep wander aimlessly and individually or in small flocks of two to four. Sheep avoid cliffs and hazardous areas if it warrants damage. Sheep emit hoarse bleats in mostly random patterns and especially when attacked. If harmed, sheep flee for a few seconds, but make no special attempt to avoid wolves.

Sheep do not usually interact with players or other mobs, but follow a player holding wheat within a six blocks radius. Adult sheep cannot fit through a gap of the 90-degree intersection of two fences when the corner fence is removed, whereas the player and most other mobs can fit through easily (although mobs won't path-find through this gap).

Sheep graze short grass, short dry grass, tall dry grass, and ferns (but not tall grass or large ferns), making them disappear, and grass blocks, changing them into dirt blocks. Baby sheep graze grass much more often than adults and mature 1 minute faster when grazing. Sheep can eat grass through blocks that are lower than a full block, including extremities such as honey blocks, as well as from inside minecarts. A sheared sheep regrows its wool after grazing. Therefore, if no grass is available, a sheep cannot regrow its wool after being sheared. If an adult sheep has the opportunity, the chance of eating grass is ¹⁄₅₀₀ every other game tick (¹⁄₂₅ for baby sheep). If /gamerule mobGriefing is set to false, grass blocks remain, but the sheep still regrow their wool.^[1]

👁 Image

A sheep's wool can be dyed by pressing the use key or the interact button while holding any dye. A sheared sheep cannot be dyed until its wool grows back after eating a grass block. Dyeing changes the color of the sheep's wool until the sheep is dyed again. The new wool colors are inherited by baby sheep.

If a sheep is dyed and then sheared, it retains its new dyed wool color after the wool regrows.

Sheep can be bred using wheat, after which they spawn a baby sheep. They cannot breed for five minutes after the baby sheep appears.

The 20-minute growth of a baby sheep can be slightly accelerated using wheat. Each use takes 10% off the remaining time to grow up. A baby sheep can also accelerate its own growth by eating grass.

If the parents have compatible wool colors (meaning that the corresponding dye items could be combined into a third dye color), the resulting baby sheep inherits a mix of their colors (e.g., blue sheep + white sheep = light blue baby sheep). If the dye colors cannot normally be mixed, the baby sheep spawns with the same color as one of the parents, chosen randomly, regardless of whether one or both parents have been sheared. Resulting colors from every possible pair of sheep can be seen in the table below.

An evoker can change a sheep's wool color if the evoker isn't engaged in combat and /gamerule mobGriefing is set to true. If that condition is met, it can change the wool color of any blue sheep within 16 blocks to red. It signals the spell by producing orange color particles (👁 EffectSprite particle-evoker-wololo.png: Sprite image for particle-evoker-wololo in Minecraft
) and making a "wololo" sound. This is a reference to the priest unit of the 1997 game Age of Empires. This will still work if they are named jeb_.

If a sheep is named jeb_, its wool cycles through all dye colors in order. This is purely a visual effect. A sheep named jeb_ can still be dyed without changing the rainbow effect, and any wool obtained from one of these sheep has the most recent color as if the sheep was not named. The name tag jeb_ is an easter egg toward one of the developers Jens Bergensten or “Jeb” as he is called online.

15% of nearby baby zombies, husks, or drowned may ride a sheep to form a jockey.

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Sheep have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Java Edition:

In Java Edition, non-white sheep colors are 25% darker as the respective dye color values; white is separately defined as
 #E6E6E6. Non-white sheep colors are applied to the sheep_wool.png and sheep_wool_undercoat.png textures, while white is applied exclusively to the sheep_wool.png texture (the wool undercoat texture is not rendered for white sheep).

In Bedrock Edition, sheep colors use the same values as the base dye colors. The wool textures of white sheep are not tinted.

Achievements that apply to all mobs:

Advancements that apply to all mobs: