Dall Sheep
Dall Sheep ram at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage, Alaska.
Conservation status
Least Concern [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Artiodactyla Family: Bovidae Subfamily: Caprinae Genus: Ovis Species: O. dalli
Binomial name
Ovis dalli Nelson, 1884

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. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 363 KB)This photograph was taken by David McMaster on April 27, 2005 at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage, Alaska, USA. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation... The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. ... Image File history File links Status_iucn2. ... Least Concern (LC) is an IUCN category assigned to extant species or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category. ... For other uses, see Scientific classification (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Animal (disambiguation). ... Typical Classes See below Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates. ... Subclasses & Infraclasses Subclass †Allotheria* Subclass Prototheria Subclass Theria Infraclass †Trituberculata Infraclass Metatheria Infraclass Eutheria Mammals (class Mammalia) are warm-blooded, vertebrate animals characterized by the presence of sweat glands, including those that produce milk, and by the presence of: hair, three middle ear bones used in hearing, and a neocortex... Families Antilocapridae Bovidae Camelidae Cervidae Giraffidae Hippopotamidae Moschidae Suidae Tayassuidae Tragulidae Leptochoeridae † Chaeropotamidae † Dichobunidae † Cebochoeridae † Entelodontidae † Anoplotheriidae † Anthracotheriidae † Cainotheriidae † Agriochoeridae † Merycoidodontidae † Leptomerycidae † Protoceratidae † Xiphodontidae † Amphimerycidae † Helohyidae † Gelocidae † Merycodontidae † Dromomerycidae † Raoellidae † Choeropotamidae † Sanitheriidae † The even-toed ungulates form the mammal order Artiodactyla. ... Subfamilies Bovinae Cephalophinae Hippotraginae Antilopinae Caprinae A bovid is any of almost 140 species of cloven-hoofed mammals belonging to the family Bovidae. ... Genera Capricornis Nemorhaedus Rupicapra Oreamnos Budorcas Ovibos Hemitragus Ammotragus Pseudois Capra Ovis Pantholops A goat antelope is any of the species of mostly medium-sized herbivores that make up the subfamily Caprinae or the single species in subfamily Panthalopinae. ... Species See text. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Edward William Nelson (May 8, 1855 - May 19, 1934) was an American naturalist and ethnologist. ...

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, found in the Pelly Mountains and Ogilvie Mountains of Yukon Territory.^[2] Mitochondrial DNA evidence has shown no molecular division along current subspecies boundaries^[3], although evidence from nuclear DNA may provide some support.^[4] Also at the species level current taxonomy is questionable because hybrdization between Ovis dalli and Ovis canadensis has been recorded in recent evolutionary history.^[3]

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. For other uses, see Latin (disambiguation). ... In elementary algebra, a binomial is a polynomial with two terms: the sum of two monomials. ... William Healey Dall, (August 21, 1845 - March 27, 1927), was a great American naturalist and a prominent malacologist. ...

Two Dall Sheep lambs

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 cannot travel quickly through such terrain. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixelsFull resolution (1050 × 700 pixels, file size: 107 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Title: Dall Sheep Lambs Alternative Title: (none) Creator: Boylan, Mike Source: SL-03720 Publisher: (none) Contributor: ASSISTANT REGIONAL DIRECTOR-EXTERNAL AFFAIRS Language: EN - ENGLISH Rights... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixelsFull resolution (1050 × 700 pixels, file size: 107 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Title: Dall Sheep Lambs Alternative Title: (none) Creator: Boylan, Mike Source: SL-03720 Publisher: (none) Contributor: ASSISTANT REGIONAL DIRECTOR-EXTERNAL AFFAIRS Language: EN - ENGLISH Rights... The subarctic is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic and covering much of Canada and Siberia, the north of Scandinavia, northern Mongolia and the Chinese province of Heilongjiang. ... Official language(s) None[1] Spoken language(s) English 85. ... This article is about Yukon Territory in Canada. ... The Mackenzie Mountains are a mountain range forming part of the Yukon-North Territories boundary between the Liard and Peel rivers. ... For the former United States territory, see Northwest Territory. ... Motto: Splendor sine occasu (Latin: Splendour without diminishment) Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Official languages English Government - Lieutenant-Governor Steven Point - Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament - House seats 36 - Senate seats 6 Confederation July 20, 1871 (6th province) Area  Ranked 5th - Total 944,735 km...

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. Wolf Wolf Man Mount Wolf Wolf Prizes Wolf Spider Wolf 424 Wolf 359 Wolf Point Wolf-herring Frank Wolf Friedrich Wolf Friedrich August Wolf Hugo Wolf Johannes Wolf Julius Wolf Max Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf Maximilian Wolf Rudolf Wolf Thomas Wolf As Name Wolf Breidenbach Wolf Hirshorn Other The call... For other uses, see Coyote (disambiguation). ... Black Bear redirects here. ... Binomial name Linnaeus, 1758 Ursus arctos range map. ... For other uses, see Golden Eagle (disambiguation). ...

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). Map of Alaska Highway (in red) The Alaska Highway, also the Alaskan Highway, Alaska-Canadian Highway, and the Alcan Highway, runs from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Fairbanks, Alaska, via Whitehorse, Yukon. ... Kluane National Park and Reserve is located in the extreme southwestern corner of the Yukon territory in Canada. ... Faro is a small town in central Yukon, Canada, formerly the home of the largest open pit lead-zinc mine in the world as well as a significant producer of silver and other natural resource ventures. ...

Notes

These sheep are pretty cool.

--65.11.169.84 22:26, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

References

• A.W.F. Banfield (1974). The Mammals of Canada. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-2137-9