Besides sea-creatures, birds, and dragons, Iceland has two species of wildlife: arctic foxes and reindeer.
We never saw either except at the Vatnajokull Glacier "Exhibition" (which is what they call most museums).
However, the line between wild and tame, between public and private is much more blurry there. So the livestock (horses, sheep, and cows) seem a bit like wild animals. For one thing, they roam wild and free.
And they just look a bit wild compared to our sheep. These are no fluffy puff balls, they are nappy, gnarled survivors.
There are approximately twice as many sheep in Iceland as there are people. Icelanders eat the sheep, eat their dairy, and they make clothes from the wool. They are the only dependable farmed good. There are far less cows and almost no planted crops (except a few fields of "salad" which is what they call lettuce). Besides hamburgers, you will rarely find beef on the menu, always lamb and fish.
We noticed that Icelandic sheep don't seem to have quite the same herd mentality of US sheep. They seem to favor the small family unit (a ewe with two lambs) instead.
You will see a lot more black sheep in Iceland, that is because they eat them. So even if the wool is no good, they will fatten them up for slaughter.
Icelandic wool is everywhere, and not just on tourists. It is rare to see a local not wearing at least one item of home-knit wool.
Locals knit wool and sell it on consignment all over the place. So you will walk into a gas station and see some gloves and socks hanging there. When you check the tag, it takes a moment to recover from the shock of the price, but then you notice that each tag has the name of a local hand written on there.
We bought a couple items, but could not bring ourselves to cough up the king's ransom necessary to acquire a sweater. We had to suffice with a hat, gloves, and ear muff.
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