Sheep originated in the mountains of central Asia and were among the first animals to be domesticated 10,000 years ago. These wild sheep did not look much like domesticated sheep. They had coarse hair instead of wool and were much bigger than most domestic sheep today. Gradually, the domestic sheep evolved from their wild ancestors. After many generations, theircoarse hair was replaced by soft wool. At first, sheep were raised to produce hides and milk, not meat or wool, as they are today. Sheep have only become important as meat animals during the past 200 years. Also, they were sometimes used as pack animals.