beautiful big-horned sheep

The picture below is just one of the several creatures you can see in Mount Evans, Colorado. We were so lucky that a herd of big-horned sheep crossed the road right in front of us when we went up there about three years ago. They are really amazing creatures. I was so lucky to have a picture of one. Here it goes!

Bighorns are extraordinary rock climbers. Their agility allows them to bounce up steep, rugged rock croppings and craggy cliffs. In lambing season, ewes retreat to secluded canyons or gullies that are safe from predators and free of competition from other foragers. After a gestation period of about six months, a ewe gives birth to a single lamb. By the end of the first day, the sure-footed lamb can climb nearly as well as its mother.

Bighorns are social animals; yet tend to segregate outside of mating season, when the rams head off in a bachelor band leaving the ewes and lambs in nursery bands. During mating season, November and December, rams posture for dominance. As rams batter at one another, the crack of their massive head clashing can be heard more than a mile away. The stocky rams reach speeds as high as 30 mph as they charge one another during these jousts.