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Mareep is based on a sheep. It has yellow wool, a blue head and blue feet. Its ears and tail have a yellow and black striped pattern. Mareep has an orange sphere at the end of its tail which acts a small lightbulb. It has curly tuft of hair on its head.
Gender differences
None.
Special abilities
Mareep's wool stores electricity, and increases in volume when it builds up with static electricity. Touching the wool when the wool is charged will result in a nasty static shock. The bulb at the end of Mareep's tail glows brighter the more electricity it has.
Behavior
Mareep tend to avoid battle in the wild and have mild dispositions.
Mareep made its anime debut in Mild 'n Wooly, in which a flock is shepherded by a young girl named Mary and her mother. Mary had her own Mareep called "Fluffy."
Mareep's fluffy coat of wool rubs together and builds a static charge. The more static electricity is charged, the more brightly the lightbulb at the tip of its tail grows.
Mareep's fluffy coat of wool rubs together and builds a static charge. The more static electricity is charged, the more brightly the lightbulb at the tip of its tail grows.
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Though Mareep's primary color is stated to be white, it is mostly yellow and black, and doesn't contain any large amount of white color.
In addition, Mareep's colors changed twice in Generation IV. In Diamond/Pearl, it's a bright yellow-ish color. In Platinum, Mareep's hue is strangely a mix of orange and yellow. In HeartGold/SoulSilver, the colors become a bit whiter, much brighter than Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum.
Origin
It appears to be simply based on a sheep, although it might borrow its electric aspect from the way wool builds up static charges. It may also be based of of the golden fleece in Greek and Roman mythology.
Name origin
Mareep's name appears to be a combination of the word Mary — as in the girl who owned a little lamb in the nursery rhyme — and sheep; Mareep is also an anagram of the word ampere, a unit of electric current.
This Pokémon article is part of Project Pokédex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon species, as well as Pokémon groups and forms.