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American Bighorn Sheep

American bighorn sheep possess massive brown-spiraled horns, and beautiful brown fur. These animals live in the western mountains of North America. Although bighorn sheep are well-adapted to a range of elevations and temperatures, they prefer steep, rocky regions and are attracted by open alpine meadows containing vegetation. In captivity, the natural diet of these sheep is supplemented with alfalfa and grain pellets. In the wild, these animals will eagerly seek out mineral licks containing salt.

Gregarious animals, bighorn sheep sometimes gather in groups of over 100 individuals. In the wild, herds consist of a dominant ewe and a mixture of ewes, yearling, and lambs. Rams traveling in small bands of their own, joining the females during the mating season.

Bighorn sheep are very alert, and in addition to possessing keen hearing and a good sense of smell, and have remarkable vision, this allows them to tell distances accurately when jumping and locating footholds. They can spot other animals from up to a mile away. Bighorn hooves are hard on the outside, and soft on the inside, and so act as sock absorbers contributing to the sheep’s ability to rapidly scramble rocky grounds.