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Wildlife Bighorn Sheep Page
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 Photo by: D. Robert Franz |
Bighorn Sheep
Ovis canadensis
Note: NDIS combines Bighorn subspecies in both text and range data at this time. We are currently working to seperate our mapped data.
Habitat: Bighorn sheep prefer high-visibility habitat dominated by grass, low shrubs, and rock cover, areas near open escape terrain, and topographic relief. In part because of impacts imposed by humans, they typically occur only on steep, precipitous terrain, although a number of herds in the state (for example, along Interstate 70 near Georgetown and in the Big Thompson Canyon west of Loveland) have become habituated to areas adjacent to busy highways.
Diet: The bulk of the diet is grasses and grass-like plants, browse, and some forbs (Moser 1962, D. Smith 1954, J. Todd 1972). Specifically, grasses and sedges (46 percent), and shrubs (45 percent) constitute the bulk of the yearly diet (Todd 1975).
Description: Heavily built mammals whose color varies seasonally and geographically from grayish brown to medium brown. The muzzle is grayish white and there is a paler gray rump patch, underbelly, and edging down the rear legs. Adult males have thick, massive horns that are heavily ridged, a characteristic useful in determining the ages of individuals (Geist 1966). On adult males the horns sweep sharply outward, backward, and downward, with the tips then curving upward, eventually forming "full curls." The horns on a mature ram may measure more than 46 cm around their base and 112 cm in length. Measurements are: total length 1,250-1,950 mm; length of tail 70-130 mm; length of hindfoot 310-440 mm; length of ear 90-135 mm; weight 50-125 kg.
Range in Colorado: Colorado herds are widely scattered throughout the mountains and foothills of the state.
Status: CDOW Big Game, CDOW WRIS Species
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Species Occurrence Tool
(*) NDIS has no county occurrence data for fish at this time.
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