| Ovis dalli dalli | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Bovidae |
| Subfamily: | Caprinae |
| Tribe: | Caprini |
| Genus: | Ovis |
| Species: | O. d. dalli |
| Binomial name | |
| Ovis dalli dalli | |
The Dall sheep or Dall's sheep is a subspecies of Thinhorn sheep. Like other sheep, they are large herbivores, feeding primarily on grass and other plants. [1] They are endemic to northwestern North America, in Canada and Alaska. [2] [3] [4]
These sheep are about 1.5 m high and can weigh up to 110 kg. The female sheep have small, tan horns and the male sheep have larger horns that become more twisted as they age. The wool of Dall's sheep is almost pure white. [5]
The sheep's horns grow fastest in warm weather and slowest in cold weather. This puts rings in the horns called annuli. The number of rings shows how old the sheep is. [3]
This type of thinhorn sheep can interbreed with stone sheep. These thinhorn sheep are sometimes called Fannin's sheep. [5]
Most Dall sheep live to be about 12 years old, but some ewes live to be 16 or even 19. [3]
There are about 100,000 Dall sheep in the wild. They are found in Alaska in the Kenai Peninsula and Brooks Range. They live in Canada's Yukon and Northwest Territories in the Mackenzie Mountains, Kluane and Saint Elia ranges. [2]
Like other thinhorn sheep, Dall sheep live in mountains. Because they do not have long legs or large feet, they cannot move easily in deep snow. They prefer places where the wind scours the snow away before it can accumulate in drifts. [1] Dall sheep climb onto rocks to escape predators. [2] They follow the same paths from summer places to winter places for generations. [5]
Dall sheep live in herds. Adult rams live together in bachelor herds, and the ewes and young sheep live in other herds. Male sheep leave the female herds when they are two or three years old. [4] [6] [2]
The sheep mate in November. Although younger rams can mate, it is principally the older rams who actually sire offspring. [2]
Before an ewe gives birth, she climbs to a rocky, inaccessible site called a "lambing cliff." She and her lamb stay there for a few days. [2] The lamb can eat grass by October. [3]
Golden eagles, wolves, grizzly bears, and wolverines prey on thinhorn sheep. [5] [6]
Thinhorn sheep and snow sheep became two separate species around the time the last ice age ended, 10,000 to 18,000 years ago. After that, the thinhorn sheep moved east and spread out. The Dall sheep and stone sheep became separate subspecies some time after that. [2]
The mouflon is a wild sheep native to Cyprus, the Caspian region from eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran. It is thought to be the ancestor of all modern domestic sheep breeds.
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The bighorn sheep is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns. A pair of horns might weigh up to 14 kg (30 lb); the sheep typically weigh up to 143 kg (315 lb). Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspecies of Ovis canadensis, one of which is endangered: O. c. sierrae.
The desert bighorn sheep is a subspecies of bighorn sheep that is native to the deserts of the United States' intermountain west and southwestern regions, as well as northwestern Mexico. The Bureau of Land Management considered the subspecies "sensitive" to extinction.
Ovis dalli, also known as the Dall sheep or thinhorn sheep, is a species of wild sheep native to northwestern North America. Ovis dalli contains two subspecies: Ovis dalli dalli and Ovis dalli stonei. O. dalli live in mountainous alpine habitats distributed across northwestern British Columbia, the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Alaska. They browse a variety of plants such as grasses, sedges and even shrubs such as willow, during different times of the year. They also acquire minerals to supplement their diet from mineral licks. Like other Ovis species, the rams engage in dominance contests with their horns.
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The argali, also known as the mountain sheep, is a wild sheep that roams the highlands of western East Asia, the Himalayas, Tibet, and the Altai Mountains.
Ovis is a genus of mammals, part of the Caprinae subfamily of the ruminant family Bovidae. Its seven highly sociable species are known as sheep or ovines. Domestic sheep are members of the genus, and are thought to be descended from the wild mouflon of central and southwest Asia.
The snow sheep, or Siberian bighorn sheep, is a species of sheep from the mountainous areas in the northeast of Siberia. One subspecies, the Putorana snow sheep (Ovis nivicola borealis), lives isolated from the other forms in the Putoran Mountains.
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The Marco Polo sheep is a subspecies of argali sheep, named after Marco Polo. Their habitat are the mountainous regions of Central Asia. Marco Polo sheep are distinguishable mostly by their large size and spiraling horns. Their conservation status is "near threatened" and efforts have been made to protect their numbers and keep them from being hunted. It has also been suggested that crossing them with domestic sheep could have agricultural benefits.
Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae is a species of Mycoplasma bacteria that most commonly inhabits and affects ovine animals, first described in 1972. M. ovipneumoniae contributes to harmful pneumonia in sheep and goats. The duration and severity of M. ovipneumoniae varies from region to region.
The St Croix is a breed of domestic sheep native to the U.S. Virgin Islands and named for the island of Saint Croix. They are often also called Virgin Island White because those that were imported into North America were selected for white coloration. On the Island of St. Croix, they come in shades of brown, white, and black.
The raising of domestic sheep has occurred in nearly every inhabited part of the globe, and the variations in cultures and languages which have kept sheep has produced a vast lexicon of unique terminology used to describe sheep husbandry.
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Domestic sheep reproduce sexually much like other mammals, and their reproductive strategy is furthermore very similar to other domestic herd animals. A flock of sheep is generally mated by a single ram, which has either been chosen by a farmer or has established dominance through physical contest with other rams. Most sheep have a breeding season (tupping) in the autumn, though some are able to breed year-round.
Sheep or domestic sheep are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term sheep can apply to other species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated sheep. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Numbering a little over one billion, domestic sheep are also the most numerous species of sheep. An adult female is referred to as a ewe, an intact male as a ram, occasionally a tup, a castrated male as a wether, and a young sheep as a lamb.
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The Dalesbred is a breed of domestic sheep originating in England. Derived from the Swaledale and Scottish Blackface breeds, the Dalesbred is a northern hill breed distributed in the Yorkshire Dales and into Lancashire. The Dalesbred is genetically distinct from the other northern hill breeds, the Herdwick and Rough Fell.
The Interior Alaskan wolf, also known as the Yukon wolf, is a subspecies of gray wolf native to parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, Interior Alaska and Yukon.