Yakutian snow sheep (Ovis nivicola lydekkeri), Suntar
Hayata Mts, Yakutia.
Bighorn sheep of America
| Bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) are widespread
in the mountains of western North America. They are closely related to (and probably
conspecific with) the rare snow sheep (O. nivicola) of Siberia. There are
three to nine slightly differing subspecies and many isolated populations, some
of wich, such as Black Hills population (often called O. c. audubonii),
are already extinct. |
Rocky Mountains bighorns,
Jasper National Park, Alberta. |
Rockies bighorns,
Jasper, Alberta. |
Baja bighorn,
Rio de Oro, Mexico. |
Desert bighorns,
Desert Wildlife Refuge, Nevada |
Rocky Mountains bighorns,
Mt.Evans, Colorado.
Rocky Mountains bighorns,
Guanella Pass, Colorado.
Peninsular bighorn,
Anza Borrego, California. |
Rocky Mountains bighorns (O.
c. canadensis) are common and easy to see in the Rockies
and the Cascades of the US and Canada. The second large subspecies,
California bighorn (O. c. californiana) of the Sierra
Nevada, is now numbering less than 100 in the wild.
Mexican bighorn,
Animas Mts, New Mexico.
Smaller desert bighorn (O. c. nelsoni, possibly synonymous with Mexican
O. c. mexicana, peninsular O. c. cremnobates, and Baja O. c.
weemsi bighorns) is widespread from interior British Columbia to northern
Mexico, but is declining in many parts of its range because of habitat loss, diseases
brought by domestic sheep, and sometimes poaching.
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Desert bighorn,
Valley of Fire, Nevada.
Desert bighorn,
Valley of Fire, Nevada.
California bighorns,
Tyoga Pass, California. |
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| Bighorn rut, Sybille Wildlife
Area, Wyoming. |
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Bighorns are tough and athletic
animals, capable of surviving in hot dry deserts as well as in cold Alpine tundras. |
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| Bighorn jumping a fence,
Sybille Wildlife Area, Wyoming. |
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| Forbidden games, Sybille
Wildlife Area, Wyoming. |
Bighorn calf, Cybille Wildlife Area. |
In the North, they are replaced by
Stone sheep (O. dalli stonei) of Yukon Rockies, and by white-colored Dall's
sheep (O. d. dalli) of Alaska. In one area of
Yukon, there's a hybrid population of the two O. dalli races, known as
Fannin sheep. |
Bighorn calf, Cybille Wildlife Area. |
Stone sheep, Stone Mt, Brit. Columbia. |
Fannin sheep,
Faro, Yukon. |
Dall's sheep,
Kluane NP, Yukon. |
Stone sheep, Stone Mountain |
Bighorn track, Sybille Wildlife Area, Wyoming.
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