#wild sheep

[infezmite]

enemies to lovers vibe

[antiqueanimals]

Sport in Europe. Edited by F. G. Aflalo. Illustration by Edmund Caldwell. 1901.

Internet Archive

[starberry-rock]

Nonbinary version ⬇️

[palecadaver]

CIGARETTE SHEEP

I've had this one in my drafts for a while. I got this idea after I saw @dontgetfreakedout art of Tim as a ram. I liked it so much that I decided to adapt him as a European Mouflon ram in my AU, instead of a wolverine or a bear as many in the fandom see him. My best friend @ceptoidprincess was very supportive of the idea throughout the year I was working on this design, and in the end, we agreed that Tim would indeed be a sheep. I'm working on the animal designs for the rest of the cast as well. Alex, however, remains a white-tailed deer.

[kyg-photography]

do you ever get the feeling you're being watched?

📸: the lake district, united kingdom 🇬🇧

[randomanimaloftheday]

Day 324#: Bighorn Sheep

Today’s animal of the day is the Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis)!

Photo credit: Kim Keating

The bighorn sheep is one of the two species of wild sheep native to North America, the other species being the Dall/thinhorn sheep. These two species are descended from wild Siberian sheep that crossed over to North America using the Bering Land Bridge during the Pleistocene epoch, around 750,000 years ago. The Dall sheep descended from the sheep that stayed up North in Alaska and Canada, while the bighorn sheep descended from those who migrated down south to the western region of the United States and Canada. There are currently three distinct subspecies of bighorn sheep: the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis canadensis), the desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni), and the endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis sierrae). However, since I’m in Colorado right now I’m gonna focus on just the subspecies that can be found here, the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, which is also the nominate subspecies. Don’t worry though, I’ll be sure to cover the other two subspecies another day.

Photo credit: Colorado Parks & Wildlife Services

Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep can be found throughout the cooler mountainous regions of Canada and the United States, most commonly around the Rocky Mountains. They’re not super well adapted to move through super deep snow, so they tend to stay near drier areas that don’t get that much snowfall. They’ll also migrate down to lower elevations during the winter and then back up again during the summer for that same reason. However, while they’re not great at moving through deep snow, they excel at climbing up steep slopes due to their split hooves, which are more spongy than those of other ungulates, allowing them to better fit into tiny crevices and footholds in the rock. They’re also amazing jumpers and can leap up to 7 ft high and 20 ft across!

Photo credit: Jeremiah Lucas

Male bighorn sheep tend to be larger than the females and have longer, curvier horns. Unlike their Asian ancestors, bighorn sheep rams (males) and ewes (females) don’t live together outside of the breeding season, and typically inhabit herds composed of members of their own sex. Both rams and ewes will headbutt one another to establish dominance amongst each other outside of the mating season. This is more common among males, since females usually follow the oldest and most experienced individual; however, it’s not unheard of for two females around the same age to headbutt if both want to be the leader of their herd. In fact, homosexuality is pretty common amongst both rams and ewes outside of the mating season, and it seems that they’re only ever interested in heterosexual sex during their breeding season when they go into heat. This is when males do most of their headbutting and fighting over dominance.

Photo credit: Dawn Wilson

Each male will try to find an ewe (or a few ewes) to follow around and guard from rival males. Rams without any ewes will try their best to steal them from another ram by challenging him to a headbutting competition. The two males will walk a few feet away from each other, turn to face their opponent, lower their heads, then finally run at each other and butt heads. After they’ve headbutted, the rams will actually back away from each other and take a minute to determine how much that hurt. If both of them are fine, then they’ll go again until one finally decides to give up. If the challenging male wins, then he’ll get the losing male’s females. However, ewes tend to prefer males who defend them rather than the new males who challenge the old ones, so sometimes they’ll just leave. The challenger will usually try to stop them, but it’s clear they’re not interested in him. Lol loser! Of course, they want to stick with the guy whose been protecting them the whole breeding season instead of some rando.

Photo credit: I-Ting Chiang

Fun fact: because males headbutt one another so often, the horns of older males will typically have their tips broken off. This is called being “broomed”, and usually rams with the highest social status will be one with broomed horns, since that means he’s been in a lot of battles and has a lot of experience.

Photo credit: Liam Ragan

Breeding season usually picks up for these guys sometime in November, and ewes typically start giving birth around May. Right before they give birth they will climb high up on the mountain, where it’s harder for predators such as bears and wolves to get to their vulnerable lambs. However, food is usually pretty scarce up there, so ewes need to hurry up and wean their lambs before the food runs out. Lambs that are born later in the season tend to have a lower chance of survival since their mothers probably have less food to eat, meaning that they can’t produce as much milk for them. While the high elevation may protect them from some predators, ewes still have to worry about mountain lions, which can scale the cliffs just as easily as the sheep can. Humans also really like to hunt bighorn sheep for trophy hunting, however; usually they only target the males since they are bigger and have more impressive horns.

Photo credit: me

I saw this pair of bighorn sheep at the Garden of The Gods in Colorado Springs. They were so high up that I didn’t even notice them at first, and honestly, I thought they were mule deer until I zoomed in with my camera and saw their horns. Seeing them is actually a good indicator of the health of the environment, since they tend to avoid areas that have been severely negatively impacted by humans.

[thebeastsofindia]

Bharal or Blue Sheep (Pseudois nayaur), male, family Bovidae, order Artiodactyla, Himachal Pradesh, India

Photo by Mvshreeram

[spiritofthemountainnaturephoto]

Living life above the trees