Everything about The Dall Sheep totally explained
The
Dall Sheep (originally
Dall's Sheep, sometimes called
Thinhorn Sheep),
Ovis dalli, is a wild sheep of the mountainous regions of northwest North America, ranging from white to slate brown and having curved yellowish brown horns. There are two putative subspecies: the northern
Dall Sheep proper (
Ovis dalli dalli) which is almost pure white, and the more southern
Stone Sheep (also spelled Stone's Sheep) (
Ovis dalli stonei), which is a slaty brown with some white patches on the rump and inside the hind legs.
Research has shown that the use of these subspecies designations is questionable. Complete colour integradation occurs between white and dark morphs of the species with intermediately coloured populations, called
Fannin's Sheep (
Ovis dalli fannini), found in the
Pelly Mountains and Ogilvie Mountains of Yukon Territory. Mitochondrial DNA evidence has shown no molecular division along current subspecies boundaries, although evidence from nuclear DNA may provide some support. Also at the species level current taxonomy is questionable because hybrdization between
Ovis dalli and
Ovis canadensis has been recorded in recent evolutionary history.
The latter half of the
Latin binomial dalli is derived from
William Healey Dall (1845-1927), an American naturalist. The common name Dall Sheep or Dall's Sheep is often used to refer to the species
Ovis dalli. An alternative use of common name terminology is that Thinhorn Sheep refers to the species
Ovis dalli, while Dall's Sheep and Stone's Sheep refer to subspecies
Ovis dalli dalli and
Ovis dalli stonei.
The sheep inhabit the
subarctic mountain ranges of
Alaska, the
Yukon Territory, the
Mackenzie Mountains in the western
Northwest Territories, and northern
British Columbia. Dall sheep are found in relatively dry country and try to stay in a special combination of open alpine ridges, meadows, and steep slopes with extremely rugged ground in the immediate vicinity, in order to escape from predators that can't travel quickly through such terrain.
Male Dall Sheep have thick curling horns. The females have shorter, more slender, slightly curved horns. Males live in bands which seldom associate with female groups except during the mating season in late November and early December. Lambs are born in May.
During the summer when food is abundant, the sheep eat a wide variety of plants. During the winter diet is much more limited and consists primarily of dry, frozen grass and sedge stems available when snow is blown off, lichen and moss. Many Dall Sheep populations visit mineral licks during the spring and often travel many miles to eat the soil around the licks.
The primary predators of Dall Sheep are
wolves,
coyotes,
black bears, and
grizzly bears;
golden eagles are predators of the young.
Dall Sheep can often be observed along the
Alaska Highway at Muncho Lake and at Sheep Mountain in
Kluane National Park and Reserve, as well as near
Faro, Yukon (Fannin's Sheep).
Further Information
Get more info on 'Dall Sheep'.
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