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Bighorn
Sheep

Ovis canadensis

One of two sheep native to America, the reclusive bighorn lives in forests, mountains, and deserts.

Photo credit to Diane Renkin/NPS

Habitat:

Mountain slopes, foothills, alpine meadows, deserts

Status:

Least concern

Weight:

150 pounds

Length:

5-6 feet

The bighorn sheep is a species of sheep widely distributed throughout the Western U.S. Their Asian ancestor crossed Beringia (the Bering Land Bridge) 750,000, entering Alaska where it would speciate into the two American sheep we know today, the Dall sheep and the bighorn.

 

It used to be divided into 7 subspecies, but we now know, due to modern genetic analyses, that there are cladistically only three subspecies: the desert bighorn, the Sierra Nevada bighorn, and the Rocky Mountain bighorn. The Rocky Mountain and the Sierra Nevada diverged from the desert prior to 315,000 kya and then diverged from each other, creating three distinct genetic lineages.

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Bighorn sheep are both grazers and browsers, feeding on grasses and woody shrubs. 

 

Adults can be subject to predation, but lambs are the most common victims of predators. Jaguars, wolverines, cougars, wolves, ocelots, bobcats, lynx, golden eagles, grey foxes, grizzly bears, black bears, and coyotes all eat bighorns.

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