Senegals highly prized ladoum rams in pictures | World news

Sheep are an important commodity in Senegal, where more than half the population lives in the countryside and many city dwellers retain a close connection to their native villages. Sylvain Cherkaoui took his mobile studio to meet some of the proud owners who posed with their animals

Senegal’s highly prized ladoum rams – in pictures

Sheep are an important commodity in Senegal, where more than half the population lives in the countryside and many city dwellers retain a close connection to their native villages. Sylvain Cherkaoui took his mobile studio to meet some of the proud owners who posed with their animals

  • Exhibited as part of Dak’Art 2022 Biennale Off at Pieds Tanqués in Dakar, Senegal

All photographs by Sylvain Cherkaoui/Panos Pictures

Main image: Assane Dieye, manager of the Menenek flock, shows a ram named Ballon d'Or. Photograph: Sylvain Cherkaoui/Panos Pictures

Wed 15 Jun 2022 06.00 BST

  • The ladoum sheep, a cross between Mauritanian touabir and Malian bali-bali varieties, has become an important part of Senegalese culture over the past 20 years of breeding

  • Madame Wane Fatou Binetou Diop and her brother Moustapha present Mapate Junior, a two-and-a-half-year-old ladoum ram

  • Habibou Diop presents Bideo Bou Bess, a 19-month-old ladoum ram from the Malle flock that is 1.12 metres tall and 1.7 metres long

  • Measuring up to 1.2 metres in height and weighing the equivalent of three grown men, the rams can fetch up to £70,000 in a country where 40% of the population lives on about £1.50 a day

  • Beauty pageants on TV rate ladoum sheep, offering substantial prize money. Senegal’s president, Macky Sall, is rumoured to own several of the animals

  • Assane Dieye, the manager of the Menenek flock, with a ladoum ram named Ballon d’Or

  • During the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, hundreds of thousands of sheep are slaughtered and eaten at family feasts, but fully grown ladoum are too valuable to be sacrificed. Criminals have cottoned on to the high value of these creatures and sheep theft is becoming an increasing worry for breeders and owners

  • Diallo the Younger, a 23-month-old ladoum ram, belongs to Ousseynou Thiaroye Fall, 29, who runs the Hann Thiaroye flock

  • Sherif, a 28-month-old ladoum ram, belongs to Seydi Gadiaga, who runs the Keur Mame Seydi flock

  • Ousseynou Koor and Fatoumata Doumbia present Yaram Gueye, a 32-month-old ladoum sheep from the Na-Fanta Diane flock

  • The photographer Sylvain Cherkaoui’s mobile studio

  • Joseph Ki-Zerbo, an 18-month-old ladoum ram from the Vizuri flock, with owner and breeder Mohamed Seck

  • Fatoumata Doumbia shows Le Ladoum Mass, a 30-month-old ladoum ram from the Na-Fanta Diane flock

  • NDakarou, a three-year-old ladoum ram from the Haram Sagna flock, with its breeder Pape Diop. He is the son of Minke, who at 1.2 metres was the tallest ladoum in Senegal

  • Passeport, a 28-month-old ladoum ram, belongs to Thylla Warkhoukh who runs the Samba MBaye flock

  • Boy Ndour, a ladoum ram from the Cheikh Diouf flock, is owned and was bred by Syaka Sane
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