Bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis); Smith Dorrien/Spray Trail; Kananaskis.

The size of the horns of this bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) tells that this is a male. Female horns are thinner, shorter and also less curved. This male is probably about six years old. In about two years, the horns will have grown so far that the tips curve above the eye again, forming truly formidable weapons used to fight other males over the right to mate and for defense. By then it will be a fully gorwn animal of up to 136 kilos.

Bighorn sheep live in herds, but males and females, the latter accompanied by their lambs, generally live in separate herds and their criteria for choosing their habitat are quite different. For females (average 57 kilos) safety is priority number one and they will ignore patches which are optimal foodwise if it is not safe because of predators. The larger and stronger rams, not weighed down by the responsibility of taking care of the vulnerable lambs, prefer to use the superior food to maximize their body condition and grow as strong as they possibly can. The stronger a ram is, the more chance it has to beat a rival when the time to mate approaches. The drive to outcompete other males is so strong that the higher risk of being caught while foraging by a coyote, wolf, wolverine, bear, cougar or lynx is accepted. Their great strength and their cooperation in detecting and warding off predators outside the mating season however compensates for some of that risk.

Image number: ASP7285AWMC