Duplicate sheep breed: Asaf vs. Assaf

[KrishnaTO]

Issue Description

There are two separate terms for what appears to be spelling variants of the same breed:

• VBO:0001290 - Asaf (Sheep)
• VBO:0001304 - Assaf (Sheep)

Details

VBO:0001290 - Asaf (Sheep)

• Name: Asaf (Sheep)
• Subset: transboundary
• Synonym: "Asaf" EXACT most_common_name
• Source: https://www.fao.org/dad-is
• Has one geographic variant: Asaf, Turkey (Sheep)

VBO:0001304 - Assaf (Sheep)

• Name: Assaf (Sheep)
• Subset: transboundary
• Synonym: "Assaf" EXACT most_common_name
• Source: https://www.fao.org/dad-is
• xref: LBO:0001098
• xref: https://omia.org
• Has multiple geographic variants (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Spain, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Peru, Portugal)

Analysis

"Assaf" appears to be the more widely recognized spelling with:

• References to external databases (LBO, OMIA)
• More geographic variants
• More complete documentation

"Asaf" may be an alternative spelling or transliteration variant used in Turkey.

Recommendation

Option 1: Merge terms

• Keep VBO:0001304 (Assaf) as the primary term
• Make VBO:0001290 (Asaf) obsolete
• Add "Asaf" as a synonym to VBO:0001304

Option 2: Keep both if they represent genuinely different breeds

• Add cross-references or clarifying comments to distinguish them

Related Issues

This is part of a broader review of duplicate sheep breeds in VBO.

[KrishnaTO]

@claude can you define why these terms are the same in one of the terms?

[claude]

Claude finished @KrishnaTO's task —— View job • claude/issue-64-20251118-1721 • Create PR ➔

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Completed duplicate sheep breed analysis

Tasks

• Gather context about both terms
• Research the breed to confirm they are the same
• Add clarifying comment to VBO:0001290 (Asaf)
• Validate changes
• Commit and push changes

Research Findings

The Assaf breed is an Israeli sheep breed developed from crossbreeding Awassi and East Friesian sheep. Both "Assaf" and "Asaf" refer to the same breed, with "Assaf" being the more widely recognized spelling in scientific literature and official sources. The variant "Asaf" appears in some publications as an alternative transliteration.

Changes Made

Added a detailed comment to VBO:0001290 (Asaf) explaining:

• It represents a spelling variant of VBO:0001304 (Assaf)
• Both refer to the same Israeli sheep breed
• The breed origin (Awassi × East Friesian crossbreed)
• "Assaf" is more widely recognized in scientific literature
• These terms may need to be merged in the future
• Added issue tracker reference to this issue (Duplicate sheep breed: Asaf vs. Assaf #64)

The comment now provides clear documentation of why these terms are duplicates and references the more complete term (VBO:0001304) that should be retained in any future merger.

Next Steps

--- | Branch