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Bighorn sheep live in large herds and do not typically follow a single leader ram, unlike the mouflon, the ancestor of the domestic sheep, which has a strict dominance hierarchy. Before the mating season or " rut ", the rams attempt to establish a dominance hierarchy to determine access to ewes for mating.
Desert bighorn sheep typically live for 10–20 years. [9] The typical diet of a desert bighorn sheep is mainly grasses . [ 7 ] When grasses are unavailable, they turn to other food sources, such as sedges , forbs , or cacti.
The Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis sierrae) is subspecies of bighorn sheep unique to the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. [3] A 2016 genetics study confirmed significant divergence between the three subspecies of North America's bighorn sheep: Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep, Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and desert bighorn sheep. [4]
Bighorn sheep get their name from the large horns atop their head, which curve backwards toward the sheep's body. They can weigh between 140-300 pounds and average about 3–3½ feet tall, ...
The population of desert bighorn sheep was recently estimated to be 428. [6] They live mainly in the two ranges that dominate the refuge landscape – the Kofa Mountains and Castle Dome Mountains of northern Yuma County and southern La Paz County. These mountains are not especially high, but they are extremely rugged and rise sharply from the ...
There are only approximately 80,000 North American bighorn sheep on the continent currently — much less than the between 150,000 and 200,000 that existed before the 1800’s.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is working to restore populations of the native desert bighorn sheep and will release some in Franklin Mountains this fall.
Only 39% of the 115 bighorn sheep translocations are persisting in 6 Rocky Mountain states. Populations of 100 or more sheep now occur in 10 national park units, populations of 100-200 sheep in 5 units, and populations of more than 500 sheep in 5 units. Populations of fewer than 100 animals exist in 5 other park units. [1]