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Bighorn Sheep

Description
The Bighorn's body is compact and muscular; the muzzle, narrow and pointed; the ears, short and pointed; the tail, very short. The fur is deer like and usually a shade of brown with whitish rump patches. The fur is smooth and composed of an outer coat of brittle guard hairs and short, gray, crimped fleece under fur. The summer coat is a rich, glossy brown but it becomes quite faded by late winter. The male sheep is called a ram and can be recognized by his massive brown horns. The horns curl back over the ears, down, and up past the cheeks. By the time a ram reaches 7 or 8 years of age, he can have a set of horns with a full curl and a spread of up to 33 inches. Ewes, the females, are smaller than the rams and have shorter, smaller horns that never exceed half a curl. The desert subspecies, Ovis canadensis nelsoni, is somewhat smaller and has flatter, wider-spreading horns.
Vocalization
During the rut, the Bighorn rams will snort loudly. The lambs bleat, and the ewes respond with a guttural "ba." They also utter throaty rumbles or "blow" in fright.
Eyes
Bighorn have extremely acute eyesight, which aids in jumping and gaining narrow mountain footholds. They often watch other animals moving at distances of up to a mile away.
Behavior
Bighorn sheep are gregarious, sometimes forming herds of over 100 individuals, but small groups of 8-10 are more common. Mature males usually stay apart from females and young for most of the year in separate bachelor herds. They migrate seasonally, using larger upland areas in the summer and concentrating in sheltered valleys during the winter. Males do not defend territories but rather engage in battles over mating access to a particular female. Age as well as horn size determines male dominance status. Although not as well built for climbing as mountain goats, Bighorn Sheep zigzag up and down cliff faces with amazing ease. They use ledges only 2 inches wide for footholds, and bounce from ledge to ledge over spans as wide as 20 feet. They can move over level ground at 30 miles per hour and scramble up mountain slopes at 15 m.p.h. They also swim freely, despite their massive bulk and the weight of their horns. Bighorns are generally active during the day, feeding morning, noon and evening, then lying down to chew their cud. They retire to their bedding areas for the night, which may be used for many years. Desert Bighorns utilize two mechanisms for cooling -- perspiring, and also panting, which is a fairly uncommon adaptation for desert animals. When the summer rains finally arrive, they resume the more common behavior of their species.
Habitat
Bighorn inhabit alpine meadows, grassy mountain slopes and foothill country near rugged, rocky cliffs and bluffs, allowing for quick escape. In winter, Bighorn prefer slopes 2,500-5,000 feet where annual snowfall is less than 60 inches a year, because they cannot paw through deep snow to feed. Their summer range is between 6,000-8,500 feet in elevation.
Food
Bighorn are primarily grazers, consuming grasses, sedges, and forbs, but will eat young twigs, leaves, and shoots when preferred food is scarce (especially in winter). Desert bighorns eat a variety of desert plants and get most of their moisture from the vegetation, although they still visit water holes every several days in summer. When summer temperatures become extreme and water sources dry up completely, Desert Bighorns rest most of the daylight hours and feed at night. During this season, they rely on certain desert plants for both food and moisture. They use their hooves and horns to remove spines from cacti, then eat the juicy insides. They are fond of the tender shoots of Prickly Pear and the flowers of succulents like Agave and Squaw grass.
Breeding
Rutting season is in the autumn and early winter, and births take place in the spring though mating can last from July to December. Gestation lasts from 150-180 days. One or two lambs are born from late February to May. Within a few weeks of birth, lambs form bands of their own, seeking out their mothers only to suckle occasionally. They are completely weaned by 4-6 months of age. In the desert, only about one-third of the lambs will survive their first summer. A lamb born late in the season stands little chance of survival, since temperatures reach over 100 degrees F in May and often reach 120 F by June. Recent studies of high lamb death rates focus on viruses possibly introduced by domestic livestock, to which the native Bighorn have little or no immunity. Female Bighorn usually do not breed until their second or third year in the wild. Due to competition, males do not usually mate until they are 7 years old. Most sheep live over 10 years, with a maximum of 20 years. Ewes are protective of their young for many months. Yearlings, often abandoned while the ewe is giving birth to her next lamb, may be seen again with the ewe and lamb late in the spring. Bighorn find safety in numbers and are ever watchful for predators such as Coyotes and Mountain Lions.

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