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Grand Canyon Rams

Had a friend just come back from a week-long float through the GC. Had a ton of pictures of big, full-curl rams. I assume these are desert bighorns. Is that right? I know zip about wild sheep except Mouflon.

Yep. I believe the only herd that hasn't been reintroduced

Those are nelsoni sheep. There are plenty of other native herds around that are not transplants or reintroduced, especially down south in my neck of the woods that are a source for transplants.

To elaborate on Heat's post, yes they are desert bighorns of the Nelsoni subspecies. The Nelsoni often have thinner horns than the Mexicali subspecies and they tend to flair wider, which causes the rams not to broom the tips as much as the Mexicali allowing them to have a better chance to reach full curl. All that being said, however, the Mexicali with their typically heavier horns will normally score higher even though broomed more heavily.

Mexicana is a sub species of sheep. Mexicali is a town along the border in Baja California.

Oops, I was close... Thanks Nick.

Wow didn't know there was different subspecies of desert bighorns...

I believe there are actually two other subspecies of Desert identified. Ovis canadensis weemsi and Ovis canadensis cremnobates. They both occur in Mexico.

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