Rebounding Desert Bighorn
These creatures leap about precipituos cliffs and rocky outcroppings seemingly without a care in the world. It is rare that a bighorn sheep will fall, but when they do, it is usually to their death or to an injury that will result in their demise.
Sometimes they’re lucky, as is the case when the bighorn sheep population levels in the 1980s and 1990s dipped to dangerously low levels threatening the normally sure-footed animal’s survival in the rugged San Gabriel Mountain Range- By “lucky,” I mean they survived with their numbers only dropping to around 100.
This beautiful and majestic species can move up the side of a mountain at the amazing speed of 15 miles per hour. In the last few years the population of the bighorn has grown fast. At last count, the current population is estimated to be roughly 300. Still a far cry from the peak population of 740 in the early 1980s. But will it last?
Biologists are concerned that with the recent dry winter the lambs will have a tough go getting enough to eat. The fires in the last few years have cleared plenty of the chaparral that keeps high-quality food from growing. The chaparral also helps the bighorn out of view of predators. However, if the rain doesn’t fall, nutritious food doesn’t grow. If the lambs fall victim to predators or don’t get enough to eat, then there won’t be enough ewes reaching the age of two years when they become old enough to bear young. The lack of rain and snow has made this a critical year for the bighorn.
- Bighorn Facts:
- Ewes weigh between 100 and 125 pounds
- Rams weigh between 125 and 160 pounds
- Ewes can reproduce by age 2
- Ewes generally give birth to one lamb per year
- Rams can reproduce at age 4 but are often beat in head-butting competition determining who does and doesn’t get to mate
- Bighorn sheep are gregarious, social animals
- The bighorn have excellent eyesight and can see up to five miles away in open territory
- Bighorn sheep are expert climbers and can stand on a ledge as narrow as two inches.