Mammals · Artiodactyla · Bovidae
Bighorn Sheep
Ovis canadensis
Least Concern
The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk.
The bighorn sheep is the wild sheep of the mountains of western North America, from the Canadian Rockies to the deserts of Mexico. The males grow massive, curled horns that can weigh more than the animal's entire skeleton, and use them in spectacular head-on fights during the rut. It lives on steep ground, where it escapes predators. Diseases transmitted by domestic sheep, above all bacterial pneumonia, cause mass die-offs in its populations.
Weight
53 kg – 140 kg
Size
1.2 m – 1.8 m
Life expectancy
14 years
