http://www.ck12.org Chapter 11. Understanding Biodiversity: Animals: Mammals
from the plants they eat. They eat grass, and have a nine-stage digestive process. When the ram is 7 or 8 years old,
he has a full set of horns. The desert bighorn sheep have good eyesight at night.
Behavior
The desert bighorn sheep lives in herds. There are about 100 to 150 sheep in each herd. The desert bighorn sheep
is a very active animal. They are very fast when they run up and down mountains. When they want to mate, the
males engage in a head-to-head (or horn-to-horn) contest to win the right to mate. Those contests can last for up to
24 hours and more. They bang their horns together, which can weigh up to about 30 pounds.
The desert bighorn sheep zigzag up and down cliffs with a lot of speed. They use ledges that can be as small as 2
inches long as footholds. They have the ability to climb very tall, rocky mountains. They can run very fast on both
rocky and flat areas. They usually walk when they are foraging and traveling. Bighorn sheep are diurnal, but can
also be active during the night.
References
- http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Nevada/desert_bighorn_sheep.html
- http://naturebytesvideo.com
- http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/Bighorn/Desert/
- http://www.azgfd.gov/h_f/game_bighorn.shtml
- http://www.defenders.org/bighorn-sheep/basic-facts
- http://webservices.itcs.umich.edu/drupal/recd/?q=node/128
Attribution
Author
- Chaska Cobalt
Supervising Faculty
- Amy Huff Shah
Affiliation
- Museum School, San Diego, California
Status
- Published prior to review.