Hundreds of sheep have been frightening locals in the Inner Mongolia region of northern China for the past 14 days by moving in a circle. It’s quite a creepy phenomenon.

A considerable flock can be seen moving methodically in an almost perfect circle in surveillance footage of the bizarre action.

Some sheep halt occasionally in the middle of the rotation, while others may be seen looking from outside.

On Wednesday, November 16, 2022, the Chinese state-run media outlet People’s Daily tweeted a video of the strange event.

It stated that the sheep are in good health and that the cause of their strange conduct is still a mystery.

The title for the video read, ‘The great riddle of sheep! In Inner Mongolia, North China, hundreds

of sheep wander in a circle for more than ten days. The cause of the peculiar behavior is yet unknown, but the sheep are in good health.’

In an interview with Metro, Miao, the sheep owner, stated that just a portion of the flock displayed the odd behavior prior to the flock as a whole joining.

Even when large spaces existed, the farm animals did not part. Only the sheep in pen number 13 moved in this way, despite the fact that there are supposedly 34 sheep pens at the area.

The sheep began traveling in this direction on November 4 and have continued doing so for more than two weeks.

It is uncertain exactly what caused the sheep to behave in this way, but some have speculated that it might have been Listeriosis, a bacterial ailment sometimes known as ‘circling disease.’

Since the disease affects only one side of the brain, circling and even paralysis of the affected side are common symptoms.

When diseased, sheep seem confused. According to Michigan State University, affected animals show signs of bewilderment, despair, and anorexia.

‘The encephalitic variant typically manifests relatively quickly, with symptoms appearing 24 to 48 hours later and leading to death.

Circling in one direction, a high fever, anorexia, red tissues around the eyes, generally accompanied by blindness, and depression are among the symptoms, according to the university.

Many flocked to the original post’s comments section with their own theories about what the sheep’s ceremonial circle meant.

‘Also, the white rhino in the Nairobi National Park has been doing counterclockwise rounds. ‘For two days in a row,

day and night, thousands of bats have been seen flying above a Maragua police station,’ a user named @@DrPeterOkongo wrote.

‘That’s because they are sheep, they all follow the one in front of them and once they got into the circle formation they just couldn’t stop

since there’s always one in front of everyone of them,” said another user, @bitcoin1zation, providing a biological explanation influenced by sociology. @JimTomas11 tweeted,

‘Sheep behave like this, try to put a small table in front of them, let one sheep jump, and quickly remove the table, hundreds of sheep will jump at the same place.’

A lot of people started making jokes about it. The commenter @AddictivePoem said, ‘They should count people if they are restless.’

Numerous users joked that the world was ending as they cried out ‘apocalypse’! Comment by user @SwingIfYouSwan2 reads,

‘I remember saying ‘there is gonna be an apocalypse when sheep from Mongolia start walking in a circle for 10+ days.’ In the comments, @choptopmoseley said, ‘This is the end, my only friend the end.’