Desert Bighorn Ram Sheep

by Kay Novy

Title

Desert Bighorn Ram Sheep

Artist

Kay Novy

Medium

Photograph - Photography

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 deerlike 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 underfur. 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 seven or eight 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.

The natural range of Ovis canadensis was formerly in the Rocky Mountains from southern Canada to Colorado, but is now reduced to areas where small bands are protected by inaccessible habitat or by refuges. The desert subspecies (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) ranges from Nevada and California to west Texas and south into Mexico. Another rare group inhabits the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.

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 (O. c. nelsoni) eat a variety of desert plants and get most of their moisture from the vegetation, although they still visit water holes in summer.

Uploaded

December 22nd, 2017

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